FARMINGTON – A Lewiston-based lobbyist fighting to decrease marijuana-related law enforcement said Wednesday that his group might take legal action after selectmen here voted not to put his petition article on the town meeting warrant.

“The ball’s in their court,” Jonathan Leavitt of the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative said Wednesday, referring to selectmen, who made their decision on Tuesday night.

Leavitt’s group is lobbying to change Maine’s marijuana policy and is pushing an ordinance that, if enacted, would make adult marijuana-related crimes the Police Department’s lowest priority, he said. In effect, this would mean police would stop enforcing drug laws where they relate to adult marijuana use, unless asked to by property owners.

On Election Day, supporters of the measure gathered enough signatures in four separate towns, including Farmington, for the ordinance to be placed on the annual town meeting warrant in 2007 to let residents decide. State law requires that if petitioners get enough valid signatures – 10 percent of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election – the article must be placed on the warrant.

In Sumner, selectmen voted to place the ordinance on the town’s August town meeting warrant.

But Tuesday night in Farmington, selectmen voted unanimously not to do so unless forced by the courts.

“This board never encourages impeding any law on the books,” Selectman Charles Murray said.

The board should not entertain the ordinance unless ordered to do so by a Superior Court, Selectman and Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike said.

Regardless of their own opinions about marijuana, Town Manager Richard Davis said, lawyers from the Maine Municipal Association are of the opinion that in this case, the town is not required to put the ordinance on the warrant.

Towns aren’t in the business of changing state laws, Chairman Mary Wright said, and if Leavitt wants the state’s marijuana laws changed he is using the wrong forum. He should go to the state, she said.

Davis quoted a letter from MMA lawyer Richard Flewelling that explained “it is beyond the legal authority of any municipality to repeal (state laws) or to prohibit or impede their enforcement.”

Selectmen in Paris got similar advice, also from the MMA, and also voted not to place the article on the town warrant. West Paris Town Manager Don Woodbury is in the process of getting legal advice from MMA lawyers, Deputy Town Clerk Holly Packard said.

Leavitt thinks the article will get on the warrant, one way or the other, he said. He expects the town lawyer’s opinion will support his group’s right to place the article on the warrant for townspeople to decide. “I definitely think it’s legally binding,” he said.

The selectmen’s refusal to give the question to voters is undemocratic and disrespectful of the community, he said. “It’s kind of an insult to the people who signed this.”

State representatives told him that the place to start changing things is in the towns, he said.

“We’ve given them any number of things to do,” Leavitt said. “We’ve asked them to do what’s expected of them based on the law. We might…simply have to go to the courts,” he said.