PROSECUTOR ADOPTS POT-IS-LOWEST-PRIORITY POLICY

Missoulian MISSOULA - Nearly a year after voters asked county law
enforcement to ignore adult marijuana offenses, Missoula's top prosecutor
has adopted an official policy to uphold the referendum.

"In the interest of compliance with the 2006 voter initiative on marijuana
.. we are asking law enforcement officers to stop arresting individuals
or writing and submitting tickets (with mandatory appearance dates) where
the offense committed is solely possession of marijuana in misdemeanor
amounts or possession of drug paraphernalia intended for use
of marijuana," according to a draft of the policy by Missoula County
Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, an outspoken opponent of the measure.

Van Valkenburg's policy also instructs deputy prosecutors to charge
misdemeanor marijuana cases on a lowest-priority basis when marijuana is
the sole offense

"We will treat them as uncharged cases that will be assigned to a
prosecutor and charged on a lowest priority basis," according to the
policy. "If charged, we will seek issuance of a summons with the complaint."

If a defendant is charged but has no criminal record of consequence,
county attorneys will offer a deferred prosecution agreement rather than
filing formal charges. No court appearance would be required.

Approved by voters

Dubbed Initiative 2 and approved by 55 percent of Missoula's electorate in
last November's election, the countywide measure asked law enforcement to
make adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest priority. It also
established a community oversight committee to investigate marijuana
arrests and produce a report on the initiative's effects one year after
passage.

The committee will annually track and report to taxpayers how much local
government time and money is being spent on adult marijuana offenses as
compared to other law enforcement issues.

On Friday morning, a quorum of the nine-member oversight committee met to
discuss final details of the annual report, which will be available to
members of the public on Nov. 14.

Lacking data

The committee's chairman, John Masterson, said the initial report will
lack some data, and blames the shortcomings in part on the records-keeping
processes at several Missoula County and state agencies.

For example, the report will not conclusively show by what percentage, if
any, pot busts have declined since the measure passed because many
marijuana charges are "custodial citations," meaning the discovery
of marijuana was incidental to another crime and the person was booked,
searched and arrested for reasons other than drug possession.

Statistics where marijuana was the primary arresting offense have been
difficult to come by, Masterson said.

"The only statistic that really stands out to me is that people are still
getting busted for adult misdemeanor marijuana offenses," Masterson said.

However, he said Van Valkenburg's policy satisfies the committee's
expectations of how county officials should be handling personal levels of
marijuana.

"That's substantial compliance," Masterson said.

In March, Missoula County commissioners voted to narrow the initiative's
scope and apply it only to misdemeanor, or personal-use amounts of
marijuana, arguing that voters didn't realize the full range of the
measure when they supported it.

In making his case for the amendments, Van Valkenburg emphasized that
Initiative 2 is a mere suggestion to county law enforcement, and does not
change any laws prohibiting marijuana use.