Pubdate: Thu, 18 Apr 2013 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2013 McClatchy Newspapers Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers Page: 9A POT MAY BE NEXT FRONTIER FOR ALASKA Vote in 2014 on Recreational Use? WASHINGTON - Alaska voters likely will get a chance next year to make their state the third in the country to approve the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21and older. Pot backers Tuesday took the first step toward getting the measure on the August 2014 primary ballot, presenting draft language and 100 signatures to the Alaska lieutenant governor's office. The measure would tax and regulate marijuana sales and allow Alaskans to cultivate marijuana for personal use. If state officials decide everything's in order after a 60-day review, backers will have until mid-January to collect signatures from another 30,169 people to force a vote, said Steve Fox, the national political director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group in Washington. Alaskans rejected a legalization initiative in 2004, with only 44 percent of the state's voters backing the idea. But Alaska's marijuana laws are among the most liberal in the nation. In 1975, the state's Supreme Court ruled that residents had the right to possess up to 4 ounces of marijuana in their homes. Fox expects a better result at the ballot box next year, thanks to growing public support and backing of a national pro-marijuana bill from Republican Rep. Don Young, Alaska's only congressman. As a co-sponsor of the new Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2013, Young sided with states Friday in the debate over whether they should have more power than the federal government in regulating marijuana. "That was a great surprise," Fox said. "He's a longtime Republican representing the entire state. It's quite significant. It shows the tide is turning." The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, would modify the federal Controlled Substances Act to allow anyone acting in compliance with a state's marijuana law to be immune from federal prosecution. It comes as Washington state and Colorado, the two states that approved recreational marijuana use last year, await word from the Justice Department on whether they may proceed with plans to open retail pot shops later this year. Many opponents say it's a mistake to legalize marijuana because it would lead to more drug use and more highway deaths. Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area program in Denver - which coordinates federal, state and local law enforcement efforts - said states shouldn't be allowed to pass laws that clearly violate the nation's drug policies. Gorman, a former head of California's anti-narcotics efforts, also said federal authorities should get restraining orders to stop any states from doing so. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom