Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM) Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal Contact: http://www.abqjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10 Author: Steven Suttle LEAVE OUR CONSTITUTION ALONE SEN. GERALD ORTIZ y Pino's proposal to use a constitutional amendment as a plebiscite on the issue of legalization of marijuana should give the Legislature and the citizenry pause. From colonial times to the present day, state constitutions were meant to be charters wherein the citizens grant and limit the powers of government. Constitutions create public offices, setting their the terms and defining their relationships to each other, guarantee personal liberties and rights, and provide a framework for governmental structure. They are not intended nor should they be used as a vehicle for general lawmaking for several reasons, first and foremost of which is the difficulty to amend such an amendment in the event of a change of circumstance, error in its drafting or eventual application, or public mood. The framers of the New Mexico constitution, unlike their Arizona brethren, chose not to include initiative, referendum, and recall in their final draft. President William Howard Taft, a respected jurist and constitutional law scholar, actually rejected Arizona's first proposed constitution because it contained some of those provisions. The senator's obvious goal is an end run around a governor who would certainly veto, as is her constitutional prerogative, any regular legislation legalizing general marijuana use. Presumably, most of the supporters of legalization will be Democrats. The correct thing for them to do is see if they can actually pass a bill repealing the current criminal statutes and challenge the governor to veto it, thus making that action an issue in the upcoming gubernatorial election. That would be the proper way to test public sentiment, not with a constitutional amendment. Amending a constitution is a difficult business at best, but even the outside chance that the legislature would propose such an amendment and refer it to the voters sets a dangerous precedent subject to repetition in the future that might embrace other issues best left to elected representatives and not to the voters. STEVEN SUTTLE Albuquerque - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom