Committee votes to not change pot initiative

The Initiative 2 oversight committee has spoken, and their first message is this: Leave the initiative alone.

In a meeting Friday, the committee approved a resolution, by a vote of 6 to 2, asking Missoula County commissioners not to amend the resolution, with one abstention.

Initiative 2, passed by Missoula County voters in November, recommends that county law enforcement agencies make all adult marijuana offenses their lowest priority. County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg has asked the commissioners to amend the measure so that it does not apply to felony marijuana offenses. Such an amendment would require the vote of at least two out of the three county commissioners.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday for the public to weigh in on the proposed amendment. That meeting was originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m. – the time at which the commissioners routinely meet – but was changed to 4:30 p.m. in response to complaints that many people would have difficulty adjusting their work schedules to attend an early afternoon meeting.

The commissioners will reserve judgment until that hearing, Chairwoman Barbara Evans said. The committee’s resolution will influence Evan’s decision “as much as anything anybody else has to say,” she said.

“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” she said.

The oversight committee’s resolution asks that any amendment be delayed at least two years “to allow the committee to fulfill their oversight responsibilities.”

“The logic was that the initiative has not even really been enacted yet,” committee Chairman John Masterson said. “No policy has changed, no police action has changed, so we felt, on aggregate, there was no problem that needed to be solved and that therefore it was premature to change the initiative.”

Furthermore, he said, the initiative makes recommendations to law enforcement, but doesn’t require any particular change in protocol.

“County officials can already do as they see fit,” Masterson said.

Besides his role on the Initiative 2 committee, Masterson also serves as the director of the Montana chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a group that seeks to legalize marijuana. 

He said the two roles do not conflict.

“While my position on the committee allows me to express my opinion from time to time, my first duty is to ensure successful operation of the committee,” he said.