[Mtnorml-list] Public Hearing on Marijuana Initiative, SSDP Meeting

[Montana NORML]

Friends,

As you may have heard, the marijuana initiative in Missoula County, 
passed by 54% of voters in November, is now being threatened by an 
effort to make it only apply to misdemeanor offenses. It may seem 
strange that an initiative passed by a majority can be simply altered 
after the fact, but the County Commissioners do indeed possess this power.

The proposed amendments have been offered by County Attorney Fred 
VanValkenburg, who said recently in an interview with KUFM that voters 
(you) simply "made a mistake" in voting for the initiative as written. 
(What other "mistakes" might need to be "corrected" by government 
officials?)

The initiative's Community Oversight Committee (chaired by MT NORML 
director John Masterson) recently passed a resolution calling upon the 
County Commissioners to delay amending the initiative for at least two 
years, citing the fact that the initiative is merely a recommendation to 
county officials, and law enforcement can continue enforcing marijuana 
crimes as they see fit.

Additionally, restricting the initiative's scope to misdemeanor offenses 
only would exclude trivial "crimes" such as growing a single plant, or 
splitting a small bag of marijuana in half to share with a friend, both 
of which are felonies.


County Commissioners have offered a public hearing to receive input from 
citizens of Missoula County. A strong public showing of support for 
leaving the initiative unchanged may be enough to keep the County 
Commissioners from rewriting the it -- and voters' wishes. Would you 
please attend, and make a simple and brief statement *supporting the 
initiative as originally passed by the voters*?

  Where: Missoula County Courthouse, Room 201
  When: Wednesday Mar 21st, starting at 4:30PM

We hope to see you there!

The original initiative as passed may be reviewed here:
  http://www.responsiblecrimepolicy.org/initiative.pdf

Proposed amendments are here:
  http://www.responsiblecrimepolicy.org/I-2amend.pdf (large file)


Don't let your vote be changed. Let the County know how you feel about 
these amendments by attending the hearing and making a brief statement 
of support for leaving the initiative unchanged. You can also email your 
statement to the County at bcc at co.missoula.mt.us (and please CC 
info at responsiblecrimepolicy.org if you do.)


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Also, for UM students and faculty, there's a meeting of the UM chapter 
of Students for Sensible Drug Policy in UC 327 on Tuesday March 20th at 
7PM. More about SSDP can be found at http://www.ssdp.org -- a great 
organization for students to get involved in.


- Montana NORML Team