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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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[AK] Small marijuana bust on North Slope raises eyebrows at ACLU
#14225555 - 04/02/11 11:25 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Small marijuana bust on North Slope raises eyebrows at ACLU April 1, 2011 - thearcticsounder.com
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska wants to know more about a misdemeanor charge brought against a Point Lay woman for possessing a tiny amount of marijuana.
Despite a 2006 state law that sought to recriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession, the courts have not decided the issue, said Jeffery Mittman, the group's executive director.
It's still unkown whether people can legally possess less than one ounce for home use in Alaska, he said.
The charge against Eva Anniskett, 23, brought by North Slope Borough Police, could be what the ACLU needs to "help start resolving issues that have been left unresolved by the Alaska Supreme Court," said Mittman.
Anniskett will likely have to be prosecuted before that happens.
After getting a tip on March 28, North Slope Borough police arrived at Anniskett's house and "obtained consent to search her home," according to a press release from the department.
Police found 1 gram of marijuana, or .035 ounces, with an estimated street value of about $20.
They forwarded a charge of sixth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance to the district attorney's office in Barrow, a class B misdemeanor. The charge could result in up to a $2,000 fine and a 90-day jail sentence, the police statement said.
Borough police Lt. Darryl Holman could not be immediately reached for comment early Friday.
With drugs and alcohol blamed for too many deaths and other problems in the region, the North Slope Borough has pushed hard against substance abuse, even launching a "War on Drugs" campaign in recent years.
Anniskett has been in trouble with drugs and alcohol before. She pled guilty in 2010 to possessing more than an ounce of a controlled substance, with intent to sell, according to court records. In 2008, she pled guilty to importing a small amount of alcohol into a dry area. Point Lay residents voted to become a dry village under the state's local option law.
The state's battle over small amounts of marijuana possession goes back decades.
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1975 in Ravin v. Alaska that privacy rights allowed people to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for home use. Eventually, the state Legislature defined small amounts as less than 1 ounce. People could legally possess that amount unless there was intent to distribute, according to a past news account.
The issue got really hazy in 2006.
The Alaska Legislature, citing increased potency in today's dope, passed a law prohibiting possession of less than one ounce, said Bill McAllister, the state's Department of Law spokesman.
ACLU challenged the amended law in court, saying it was unconstitutional in light of the Ravin decision, though ACLU's two plaintiffs had not been prosecuted under the new law.
The ACLU won in Superior Court. But in 2009, the Supreme Court threw out the lower court's ruling and did not offer a decision because no one had been prosecuted under the law.
"We conclude that any challenge to the statute must await an actual prosecution," read the Supreme Court's 3-2 opinion, written by Justice Warren Matthews.
In recent years, there's been a stand-off on the issue, said Mittman.
Neither Mittman nor McAllister know of anyone who's been prosecuted by the state for possessing small amounts.
Mittman said he'll be watching the outcome of the charge against Anniskett.
The borough police statement gives no indication she was suspected of selling her marijuana.
"The ACLU is certainly very interested in speaking with Miss Anniskett," Mittman said. "We'll see if this is an appropriate vehicle to reassert what all Alaskans believe and value, which is that the right to privacy is very important to us."
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Run
Questioning my existance



Registered: 10/22/09
Posts: 488
Last seen: 10 years, 3 months
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Re: [AK] Small marijuana bust on North Slope raises eyebrows at ACLU [Re: veggie]
#14225614 - 04/02/11 11:42 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Very Mis-leading headline.
" The Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1975 in Ravin v. Alaska that privacy rights allowed people to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for home use. Eventually, the state Legislature defined small amounts as less than 1 ounce. People could legally possess that amount unless there was intent to distribute, according to a past news account. "
Back in 1975 they knew that pot was not bad, 40 years later there still having trouble deciding?
also how else do they expect somone to get the pot ?
-------------------- You, me, this point in existence is undeniably so unique, we take everything for granite ,life , comprehension, feelings, thought, so accustomed to understanding that we've lost the meaning of fully understanding who we are..... we are the extra terrestrial, we are the unknown, we are the mystical...
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Darklight203
Same Shit



Registered: 08/14/10
Posts: 1,394
Loc: Nome, Alaska
Last seen: 3 months, 5 days
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Re: [AK] Small marijuana bust on North Slope raises eyebrows at ACLU [Re: Run]
#14234565 - 04/04/11 02:04 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I believe it was 4 plants at different stages of growth or 4 ounces originally. And 1 gram? Ugh...why bust anyone over a gram anyways? 3.5 grams in remote parts of Alaska run up to $150, I used to buy mine for $100 an 1/8th. It makes for a nice profit if you can move it in little villages, but not worth the risk. Once you show up, everyone knows your name including the village police or local police.
Quote:
With drugs and alcohol blamed for too many deaths and other problems in the region, the North Slope Borough has pushed hard against substance abuse, even launching a "War on Drugs" campaign in recent years.
^Good luck with that And drugs and alcohol sound like the problem, not marijuana. Alaska's number one enemy is Alcohol. It does bad things to good people, especially in small town Alaska. Number two would probably be meth. Sad days when someone gets busted over a gram and it's in the news...
-------------------- In ancient times, when demons roamed with man, They hunted, loved and lost, hand in hand, As time went on, the difference between them faded. You couldn't tell anymore, demons and man were related, and some would say the same, but who would like to claim? In time, Gods had even forgot, Demons, too, once love had sought. In times recent I remember, Once I was a man, In my heart I had an ember, I'll relate the best I can but it was snuffed, one distant December. And yet here I stand, no flesh, no bones, no seed or semen, All that's left is this Demon.
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