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Trust Territory v Bermudes [1974] TTLawRp 48; 7 TTR 80 (23 July 1974)

7 TTR 80

TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

v

MARIANO R. BERMUDES

Criminal Case No. 306-73

Trial Division of the High Court

Mariana Islands District

July 23, 1974

Prosecution for possession and sale of marijuana. The Trial Division of the High Court, Burnett, Chief Justice, held that the territory could control or prohibit the possession, use and sale of the drug, criticized stronger penalties for marijuana offenses than for opium and heroin offenses, found marijuana not to be a narcotic and held that the Congress of Micronesia could not give the Director of Health power to determine which drugs would be regulated.

1. Drugs—Marijuana

Trust Territory police powers allow for the controlling, or prohibiting the use, of marijuana.

2. Police Power—Generally

When testing the validity of regulations and acts promulgated in the exercise of the police power within the Trust Territory, the question is not whether a particular exercise of the power imposes restrictions on rights secured to individuals, but whether restrictions so imposed are reasonable.

3. Police Power—Generally

The proper area for exercising the police power is given a broad definition with regard to laws which will inure to the health, morals and general welfare of the public, and with regard to such laws the guarantees of life, liberty and property do not operate as a limitation of the police power.

4. Legislative Power—Delegation

Statute providing that a drug is any nonalcoholic drug containing any substance which significantly affects consciousness, ability to think, critical judgment, motivation, mood, psychomotor coordination or sensory perception and is substantially involved in drug abuse or has substantial potential for such involvement, and that Director of Health shall determine on the basis of current medical knowledge which substances are drugs, is null and void as an unlawful delegation of power from the Congress of Micronesia to the director and a violation of equal protection. (63 TTC §§ 301, 302)

5. Legislative Power—Delegation

The legislature, after having enacted general provisions, may delegate power to an administrative board or agency for it to establish rules and regulations by which the law is to be implemented, but the legislature must enunciate a standard by which the board must be guided and place the standard in the enabling statute, and the standard must be sufficiently definite to both guide the board in implementing the power conferred and to advise those affected of their rights and responsibilities.

6. Drugs—Marijuana