MJ Legal in Alaska, But Attorney General Orders Cops to Work with Feds to build Cases

Newsbrief: Marijuana Legal in Alaska, But Attorney General Orders Cops to Confiscate It, Work with Feds to Build Cases 9/19/03
Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes is slowly coming to grips with reality. Befuddled by last month's Alaska Appeals Court ruling legalizing the possession of up to four ounces of pot in the home (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/301/alaska.shtml), Renkes at first blustered mightily that marijuana remained illegal. But in a memo to prosecutors and the Alaska State Troopers this week, Renkes instructed them not to arrest or cite people in possession of small amounts in their homes.

But police and state troopers should still seize the pot and investigate to see if federal marijuana trafficking cases can be developed, Renkes said in the memo. "This includes seizing and treating as evidence all marijuana found, even if under four ounces in the home, and writing reports documenting the investigation," Renkes wrote.

Renkes has announced that he will appeal the legalization ruling, but now concedes that legalization is the law of the land, at least for now. "We have to respect the language of the appeals court decision," Renkes told the Anchorage Daily News Wednesday.

Renkes did not explain which novel legal theory would allow police enforcing Alaska laws to steal the legal property of Alaska residents. Alaska police officials are pooh-poohing the importance of the ruling. They don't make marijuana arrests a high priority, they said.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/303/aklegalmj.shtml