News Nuggets (Washington)

State Supreme Court tosses marijuana conviction

Washington’s highest court has overturned the marijuana conviction of a man who had been arrested and tried in Auburn on charges for which the city had no laws on its books.

Dustin B. Gauntt was arrested in 2008 after an Auburn police officer spotted him driving while smoking pot from a pipe. He was charged and later convicted of possession of paraphernalia and less than 40 grams of cannabis—both misdemeanors under state law. Gauntt appealed, pointing out that Auburn had never formally adopted the state violations under which he’d been charged.

An appellate court agreed, and, in April, the Washington Supreme Court tossed out Gauntt’s conviction. After the appellate court ruling, Auburn officials changed municipal code to make state misdemeanors crimes within the city.

It is not yet known whether the ruling might other misdemeanor convictions in Auburn subject to being overturned.

Pro-pot petition drives launched in four cities

A pro-medical cannabis group has launched petition drives in four central Washington cities to make illegal marijuana use a low-priority crime for local law enforcement.

The Spokane-based Washington SAFER Coalition announced that members will soon begin gathering signatures in Chelan, Wenatchee, Richland and Yakima to qualify the petitions for special elections. The group needs 306 signatures by June 14 in Chelan; 1,306 by June 14 in Wenatchee; 9,139 by Oct. 15 in Richland; and 10,890 by Oct. 15 in Yakima. The signature goals are based on percentages of registered voters in the cities.

Petitions approved by voters in the special elections would have the effect of directing city council members to set policy making marijuana the lowest police priority and prevent local officials from working with federal authorities in pursuing cannabis offenses. The Washington SAFER Coalition has set up a website, www.wasafer.org, for information about the drives.

Fed who prosecuted “Prince of Pot” calls for legalization

Representing one of the most dramatic changes of heart in the federal war on pot in recent memory, the former U.S. attorney who prosecuted famed Canadian cannabis activist Marc Emery has announced his support for marijuana legalization.

As the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, John McKay led the charge in extraditing to Seattle, prosecuting and convicting Emery—known as Canada’s “Prince of Pot”—in 2010 for selling cannabis seeds into the U.S. But, on April 18, the same McKay stood side by side with Emery’s wife, Jodie, at a press conference in Vancouver to call for an end to cannabis prohibition. McKay said that while he has no regrets in sending Marc Emery to a federal prison on five-year sentence, he has come to believe prohibition serves only to enrich gangsters and fuel drug violence.

McKay and Jodie Emery were joined at the conference by former British Columbia Attorney-General Geoff Plant in speaking out against cannabis criminalization.