POT LEGALIZATION VOTE MAKES NATIONAL NEWS

City Officials Examine Ramifications Of Implementation

The city of Hailey made national news last week after voters approved
three citizen initiatives to reform marijuana laws.

Hailey jointed Denver as two Western cities having passed
pro-marijuana measures on election day, Nov. 6.

The Associated Press moved a story on passage of the initiatives early
the following day and Hailey's pro-pot vote was featured in the Wall
Street Journal, Times magazine online and numerous other
publications.

Meanwhile, Hailey city officials are expected to make an announcement
later this week on how they plan to deal with the issue.

"I think largely the announcement will say that the city is examining
the legal arguments for implementation," said Hailey City Clerk
Heather Dawson.

Hailey voters approved initiatives to legalize medical uses of
marijuana, to make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority
for law enforcement and to legalize industrial use of hemp, a type of
marijuana low in THC, the chemical that produces a high.

Voters turned down a fourth initiative that would have required the
city to tax and regulate sales and use of marijuana.

All three of the passed initiatives require the city to lobby other
government agencies for reform of marijuana laws.

So what happens next?

The approved initiatives require that the city establish a Community
Oversight Committee to work out the details of legalization. But the
city has another option it may or may not choose to exercise. The City
Council can vote to repeal the initiatives.

Ryan Davidson, chairman of Liberty Lobby of Idaho, and the man who got
the marijuana initiatives on the ballot, said Tuesday that he's
uncertain what he'll do if the city takes that step. If so, he's
considering launching new petition drives to put the initiatives to
the voters all over again.

Davidson is also working for initiative elections in Sun Valley and
Ketchum.

But for the time being, he's enjoying the victory in Hailey.

"Three out of four is pretty good," Davidson said. "I guess it proves
my original instincts that Hailey or the other cities in the Wood
River Valley would be one of the easier places to pass this."

Davidson is trying to use the initiative process in the valley as part
of a grassroots effort to reform marijuana laws statewide.

"It's kind of in the city's court right now," he said.

Meanwhile, local police still consider possession of marijuana in
Hailey and elsewhere a crime. As if to emphasize the point, the Blaine
County Narcotics Enforcement Team arrested a Hailey couple on election
day for allegedly possessing marijuana with intent to deliver.