Marijuana Ruling

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Big changes for drug enforcement in Alaska. Friday, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled that police cannot obtain a warrant to search a home for marijuana unless they have probable cause that more than four ounces are inside. It's a decision, that raises as many questions as it answers.
Many people are looking at the decision as a privacy issue wrapped around the ability to smoke marijuana freely. The decision basically re-legalizes marijuana in private homes.

"There is a laid back attitude towards marijuana use among adults and I don't think there is anything really wrong with that," says local attorney Ken Jacobus. He says the recent appeals court ruling basically reaffirms how people feel about marijuana in Alaska and says he does not think it will hamper serious prosecution of large grow operations.

"It's going to be an additional burden to us, " says Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement Captain Ed Harrington. He says the number of grow operations has remained steady over the years. "I think we're going to have to work quite a bit harder to come up with enough probably cause to show that somebody is growing a commercial amount of marijuana," says Harrington.

The state will appeal the decision to the Alaska Supreme Court. Governor Frank Murkowski has expressed his concerns citing substance abuse and the fact that the appeals court rejected Alaskan voters' 1990 decision to recriminalize marijuana.

Keeping in mind that it is still illegal under federal law to use or possess the drug, there are still many questions that remain, many of which could be answered depending on a November vote whether or not to legalize all amounts of marijuana.

Some of those questions include, where the boundaries of privacy in the home begin and end, and whether or not cases will be turned over to the Feds for prosecution. It's now up to the Attorney General to review the case and make recommendations on how the state should proceed. We do know their first step is an appeal of the ruling.

http://www.ktva.com
By Heidi Loranger
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
http://www.ktva.com/Stories/0,1413,1...371286,00.html