Marijuana Policy Project

MPP Says Commission Misinterpreted Law

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Today the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) requested that the Alaska Public Offices Commission conduct a full Commission review of its dismissal of MPP's complaint against the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). On February 23, MPP alleged that ONDCP Deputy Director Scott Burns had campaigned in Alaska last October against Measure 2, a proposal to allow the state to tax and regulate marijuana, but had failed to file required campaign expenditure reports.

In dismissing the complaint, Alaska Public Offices Commission Executive Director Brooke Miles cited two federal cases and concluded that the Commission "does not have jurisdiction over the United States and its officials." She claimed, "The US [sic] as sovereign is immune from suit unless it has consented to be sued."

But a more recent Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, State of Alaska v. United States of America (64 F.3d 1352), states, "federal sovereign immunity is a defense to liability rather than a right to be free from trial." MPP's letter to Miles (available in full at /WarOnDrugCzar/complaints/AKBrookeMilesLetter.pdf) noted, "The doctrine of sovereign immunity ... does not make the federal government free from trial; rather, it is generally a means of protecting the federal government against court-awarded monetary damages."

"It is surprising that a state — especially one as independent- minded as Alaska — would allow the federal government to interfere in its electoral activities and then simply feign impotence when it comes to enforcing its own laws," said Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations. "To pursue MPP's complaint, all the state needs to do is inform ONDCP that it is expected to submit campaign expenditure reports. If ONDCP refuses, the state may ask the federal court to make a determination as to whether compliance is required without violating the doctrine of sovereign immunity. There is absolutely nothing in federal law or U.S. Supreme Court precedent that would prevent the State of Alaska from asking the Drug Czar's office to comply with its campaign finance laws, and we hope that the Commission will recognize this."

With more than 17,000 members and 150,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana — both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more information, see http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####