Alaska Court Strikes Down Pot Law

Oct. 14, 2003 -- -- David Noy doesn't deny he had a few ounces of marijuana in his house. He doesn't even deny he had some plants growing in his basement. He just doesn't think he should go to jail over it. And the second-highest court in Alaska has agreed with him.

The state Court of Appeals cited the right to privacy as the reason for its decision, and the ruling has thrown drug enforcement officials into confusion.

Noy was arrested in July 2001 after police found five pot plants growing in the basement of his North Pole home. The Alaskan did not subsequently argue he should be spared punishment because he uses marijuana for medical reasons, or because he says the search was illegal.

Instead, he said a 1990 state ballot measure that criminalized marijuana — including personal possession in the home — was unconstitutional. The measure violated the right to privacy guaranteed to every Alaskan, Noy's attorney Bill Satterburg argued, and stopping adults from smoking marijuana was not a compelling enough reason for that violation.

Last month, the Court of Appeals ruled Noy was right, and that the danger to society from marijuana is not as great as the danger of government intrusion into people's homes.

Legitimate State Interest?

The court's decision is a based on a 1975 state Supreme Court ruling in Ravin vs. State that marijuana possession is protected if it is used "in a purely personal, non-commercial context in the home" and unless the state can prove there is a "legitimate state interest" to override that right.

That court based its finding on a Nixon-era federal report, which said marijuana did not present a significant social danger "at least as compared with the far more dangerous effects of alcohol, barbiturates and amphetamines."

But State Attorney General Gregg Renkes argued marijuana is stronger than it was three decades ago, and that use of the drug is spreading faster in Alaska than elsewhere, points he said the state wasn't given the chance to make in its case.