COUNTY TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING ON INITIATIVE 2

Having assembled a committee to monitor Missoula County's new
marijuana deprioritization initiative, the board of commissioners
has scheduled a March 21 public hearing to discuss amendments to the measure.

In December, County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg urged the
commissioners to amend the measure so it excludes felony marijuana
offenses. Van Valkenburg argues that voters didn't understand the
full scope of the initiative when they supported it in November, and
said the consequences of counting felony marijuana cases as "lowest
law enforcement priority" will be more serious than people realize.

The countywide measure, dubbed Initiative 2, was approved by

54 percent of Missoula's electorate, but could be changed if a
majority of Missoula's three county commissioners agree to Van
Valkenburg's proposed amendments.

As it stands, the measure recommends that Missoula County law
enforcement and prosecutors make adult marijuana crimes their single
lowest priority (the measure doesn't include drug use by minors as
low-priority offenses).

The initiative is a mere suggestion to law enforcement, and not a
law, but calls for a nine-member Community Oversight Committee to
assess Missoula County law enforcement's implementation of the
initiative. The committee has officially been intact since Feb. 7
and consists of three community members, two criminal defense
attorneys, a drug rehabilitation counselor, a medical marijuana
patient, a harm reduction advocate and a civil liberties advocate.
Their first meeting is on Feb. 23 in Room 201 of the Missoula
County Courthouse.

But Angela Goodhope, a spokeswoman for Citizens for Responsible
Crime Policy, a group that proposed the measure, has asked the
commissioners to leave Initiative 2 alone.

Goodhope, who was recently seated on the new oversight committee,
believes Missoula County's law enforcement resources would be better
spent preventing and investigating more serious cimes that threaten
people's lives and property, such as rape, assault and burglary,
while pegging marijuana crimes below even jaywalking or minor
traffic offenses.

In a letter to the commissioners, she discouraged any changes to the
initiative and urged the board to honor Missoula's electorate by
accepting their vote.

And while Goodhope doesn't want to see any changes in the
initiative, she's willing to compromise. She's proposed an
"independent policy statement" that would preface Initiative 2,
providing clearer direction to law enforcement without altering its language.

"I'm not going to be content with any changes, but this way they
wouldn't be amending the language of a citizens' initiative," Goodhope said.

Commissioners Barbara Evans and Bill Carey have both expressed
interest in an alternative to Van Valkenburg's proposed amendments,
but said they'll discuss the specifics of such a proposal more
thoroughly at the hearing in March.

"We may try to find another way to deal with this as opposed to
amending it," said Evans, the board's chairwoman.

"Personally, I'd love to find some alternative to changing the
wording of Initiative 2 that would still differentiate between
misdemeanors and felony offenses."

However, Van Valkenburg said a policy statement would only create
additional conflict between the county attorney's office and law
enforcement officers over how marijuana cases should be handled.

"I don't think a policy statement, which lacks the force of law, is
helpful at all," he wrote in an e-mail. "In fact, it will only add
to confusion and uncertainty."

Van Valkenburg has balked at the measure because it makes offenses
involving even very large quantities of marijuana a "lowest law
enforcement priority."

In Montana, the possession of more than 60 grams of marijuana is a
felony offense. However, felony offenses can also arise if a person
is found to be growing, trading or selling marijuana, even if the
amount is less than 60 grams.

According to Scott Furois, director of the Montana Board of Crime
Control's Statistical Analysis Center, Missoula authorities made 542
marijuana-related arrests during 2005 and 2006. Of those arrests, 26
were strictly felony possession offenses. Meanwhile, 388 arrests
involved misdemeanor amounts for which the primary arrest offense
was the marijuana violation. In the remaining 128 arrests, the
marijuana charge was a secondary offense, meaning the primary arrest
offense was not related to marijuana - mostly DUIs and liquor law
violations, which include citations to minors for possession of
alcohol. The amount of marijuana seized was less than a single gram
in 101 of the total arrests.

"he ballot language was clear, and applied to all adult marijuana
offenses, not just misdemeanors," Goodhope said in an e-mail. "Keep
in mind that having a single seedling several inches high is
a felony offense, giving a marijuana cigarette to a friend is a
felony, and Missoula County voters just recommended making those
kinds of offenses a lowest priority."