If only pot were legal.
Then Missoula wouldn't be in the embarrassing position of trying to force its law enforcement officers to ignore state and federal law. We wouldn't be undermining police authority by telling officers how to do their jobs. Maybe we wouldn't be flooded with so much hyperbole and misinformation from marijuana advocacy groups, either.
They made this adjustment on the assumption that most voters didn't realize exactly what they were approving when they supported the initiative. They were right, but for the wrong reasons.
The wording of the resolution is very specific. It does not make the use or possession of marijuana legal; it only makes the enforcement of marijuana laws “the lowest law enforcement priority.” It is a nonbinding resolution, meaning it has the effect of a strong suggestion, not an order. As such, law enforcement officers can choose to disregard it - which makes the whole thing an irritating exercise in wasted time and energy.
We imagine most voters who supported the marijuana initiative actually intended to make the use and possession of marijuana legal, at least in Missoula County. They should be aware that the initiative will not have that effect.
Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg recently drafted an official policy asking Missoula County law enforcement officers to stop making arrests for marijuana, and instructing deputy prosecutors to charge misdemeanor marijuana cases on a lowest-priority basis.
That doesn't mean people are free to puff away. Rather, it means officers who apprehend a suspect for marijuana are being encouraged to write a report that will be processed through the county attorney's office once all other charges have been processed, rather than haul those suspects off to jail.
In any case, local governments do not have to ability to override state or federal laws. As Missoula County Sheriff Mike McMeekin recently put it: “We can't just opt out of the laws we don't like or don't agree with.” What's more, officers can't choose to ignore laws they don't like, either - and we wouldn't want them to. Instead, we invest them with the authority to use their discretion.
It's technically illegal to speed along at 66 miles an hour in a 65-mile-an-hour zone. Yet how often do the police pull drivers over for that? Similarly, we don't expect police officers in pursuit of a suspected murderer to drop everything to ticket a jaywalker. Do we need a resolution that tells law enforcement officers exactly what priority they should place on jaywalking?
Unfortunately, some spirited marijuana advocacy groups have been trying to scare the good sense out of local voters with tales of police busting down people's doors and riddling them with bullets over a mere joint or two. They point out statistics meant to convince us that the nation's police are overzealous when it comes to marijuana prosecution and less than enthusiastic about putting away murderers, rapists and other violent criminals.
Hopefully, a clearer local picture will emerge next month, when a community oversight committee is expected to release a report detailing the number and nature of marijuana arrests in Missoula County. In the meantime, people need to remember that the possession, sale and use of marijuana is still illegal, and that law enforcement offices are still free to make arrests.
If anyone wants to change that, they will have to pursue it at the state or federal level.
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