Pubdate: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 Source: Guelph Mercury (CN ON) Copyright: 2003 Guelph Mercury Newspapers Limited Contact: http://www.guelphmercury.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1418 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/states/ak/ (Alaska) POT BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL, ALASKAN COURT RULES Juneau, Alaska A law banning Alaskans from possessing any amount of marijuana in their homes has been ruled unconstitutional by a state appeals court Friday. Friday's decision by the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed the 2001 drug conviction of a North Pole man and ordered a new trial. The ruling affirms a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision that found it legal to possess less than 113 grams of marijuana in one's home. That ruling found the state constitution's strong privacy law superseded legislative attempts to ban marijuana. Alaska voters approved a law in 1990 that criminalized the possession of any amount of drug in any location. That law had gone unchallenged until David Noy appealed his conviction on a count of sixth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. A search of Noy's home turned up five live pot plants, growing equipment and other paraphernalia. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake