Pubdate: Thu, 30 Oct 2014
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2014 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764
Author: Laurie Constantino
Note: Laurie Constantino worked her way to the top of Alaska's 
Criminal Division between 1976 and 1996. Her final job before 
retirement was supervising all district attorney offices and setting 
criminal justice policy for Alaska.

IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IN ALASKA

I'm the former chief prosecutor for the state of Alaska, and I'm 
voting "yes" on Ballot Measure 2.

Most of my career was spent in law enforcement. I was an assistant 
district attorney, a district attorney, an assistant attorney general 
in Alaska's Criminal Division and Alaska's chief prosecutor/deputy 
attorney general under two governors.

As chief prosecutor, I supervised all of Alaska's district attorney 
offices. I also worked as special counsel to the Legislative 
Committee on Local Option Laws, holding hearings to document Alaska's 
problems with alcohol abuse and writing Alaska's first local option 
law. Later, I worked as legal advisor to the Anchorage Youth Court.

My background and experience give me in-depth knowledge of how 
Alaska's criminal justice system works. I've been on the front lines 
- - in the courtrooms, screening cases, working with law enforcement 
officers, setting criminal justice policy and writing criminal laws. 
I have firsthand knowledge of when criminal punishment is effective 
and when it is not.

I learned through experience that criminal laws aren't the answer to 
every social problem and should only apply to conduct that actually 
requires jail time. Sometimes a public health response is more 
effective (cigarettes). Sometimes monetary fines and penalties are 
sufficient (traffic and Fish and Game offenses). In other cases, jail 
is the only solution, either as a deterrent (first time driving while 
intoxicated) or to protect the community (violent crime).

When considering how to deal with marijuana, the issue isn't whether 
marijuana is good or bad, or better or worse than alcohol. Most 
Alaskans on both sides of the debate agree marijuana needs to be 
controlled and regulated. The important issue is how to do this most 
effectively.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 25 percent 
of Alaskans aged 18-25, and 11 percent of Alaskans older than 25, use 
marijuana every month. To believe marijuana should remain a crime, 
one must also believe that all marijuana-

using adults are criminals who need the possibility of jail time 
hanging over their heads.

The truth is, whether one likes it or not, it's financially and 
practically impossible to enforce existing marijuana laws against 
even a small percentage of marijuana users, even if we wanted to. 
Today we have about 6,000 people in prison. Arresting and prosecuting 
all Alaskans who use marijuana would quadruple prison costs and 
require many new prisons.

The problems caused by marijuana prohibition in Alaska are 
indistinguishable from the problems created by America's experiment 
with alcohol prohibition in the early 20th century. Many blatantly 
ignore the law, which is selectively enforced. We have a thriving 
black market in marijuana and an untaxed underground economy.

Instead of keeping unenforced and unenforceable criminal laws on the 
books, we need a regulatory structure similar to alcohol, with 
sensible regulations that spell out to whom marijuana may be sold, 
where it may be used, what forms of marijuana are allowed in stores 
and how marijuana for sale must be labeled and packaged. We also need 
an effective marijuana tax to pay for and enforce the new regulatory 
structure. Ballot Measure 2 gives us both.

Ballot Measure 2 also includes a local option law, allowing local 
communities to ban the sale and manufacture of marijuana within their 
boundaries.

Like all new laws, this one might need to be amended and tweaked in 
the future as we learn from Alaska's experience. However, given the 
breadth of regulatory authority over marijuana provided in Ballot 
Measure 2, most of the problems opponents cite can easily be cured in 
the regulations.

The bottom line: existing marijuana prohibition laws aren't working 
and haven't worked for years. By having laws more honored in the 
breach than the observance, as is the case with marijuana, we help 
breed disrespect for all our laws.

It's time to try a better approach to regulating marijuana and we get 
that from Ballot Measure 2. It will have my vote on Nov. 4.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom