by jhwygirl
In 2006, Missoula County voters approved a marijuana initiative which was supposed to make marijuana a low priority offense for law enforcement. It applied out in the county – county sheriff’s office – jurisdiction only.
Since that time there has been a 27 percent increase in marijuana enforcement in Missoula County
You can get an application here. January 30th is the deadline, and the applications can be faxed to 721-4043.
January 13, 2009 at 2:47 pm
More about the committee here: http://www.co.missoula.mt.us/initiative2/Default.aspx
And lots of data we’ve collected so far here:
http://i2files.montanadrugpolicy.org/
–
John Masterson
Chair, I-2 Oversight Committee
January 13, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Didn’t the Sheriff publicly state his intention to defy this law?
January 13, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I know plenty of friends who regularly defy this law.. er, wait…
January 13, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I this the group that runs UM’s “split the pot” at the football games?
January 13, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Billings: Montana’s Trailhead
Missoula: Montana’s Pothead
January 13, 2009 at 5:54 pm
BTW, I’m just kidding. That’s still a lot of arrests for “de-emphasis”, and also considering that medical marijuana is legal . What would be the reasons for continued increases in cases?
January 13, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Jim: The Sheriff publicly stated that the initiative would have no effect on his policies, if I recall correctly.
Goof: The Committee collected only the marijuana incident data, so we can only conjecture. I think the police chief was quoted as saying it might be accounted for by a large increase in disorderly conduct incidents, during which small amounts of marijuana are often found.
Most busts are of young people with small amounts.
http://i2files.montanadrugpolicy.org/2008data/incidents.php
Some recent coverage with spicy comments:
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/missoula_marijuana_busts_up_report_suggests/C8/L8/
http://www.missoulanews.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=467297F0-14D1-1357-9CD9EC1E3B24E7BF
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/12/10/bnews/br16.txt
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/12/11/news/local/news03.txt
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/12/19/letters/thu/thu98.txt