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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom