Pubdate: Thu, 27 Nov 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: Weston Morrow

FAIRBANKS-AREA GOVERNMENTS TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON NEW ALASKA MARIJUANA LAW

FAIRBANKS - The three local governing bodies in the Fairbanks North 
Star Borough will hold a special public forum Tuesday about the new 
voter-approved law legalizing the growing, possession and sale of 
marijuana in Alaska.

The Borough Assembly and the Fairbanks and North Pole city councils 
will host the special inter-governmental work session at the Pioneer 
Park Civic Center beginning at 6 p.m.

Ballot Measure 2 passed with 53 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 
election, making Alaska the fourth state to legalize the sale of 
marijuana in the last several years. Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell 
certified the election result on Wednesday.

With the measure's certification, the 90-day countdown toward the 
measure becoming law began. Even then, the measure gives the state 
most of the year to set up a system for the sale of marijuana in Alaska.

Elected officials and staff from the borough and cities will provide 
an overview of the ballot measure and what its passage entails, 
followed by a public comment period and a discussion of potential 
regulations at the city and borough level.

Assembly Presiding Officer Karl Kassel said the meeting has several 
purposes - to discuss the avenues of action afforded to local 
governments by the ballot measure, to solicit feedback on courses of 
action and to dispel myths and inaccuracies.

"Ballot Measure 2 is going to be enacted 90 days from the election 
being certified. Locally we need to figure out what we need to do in 
response to that," Kassel said.

Though the sale of marijuana will be legalized statewide, local 
governments will still be able to have some control. For instance, a 
local government can implement zoning regulations to disallow the 
sale in certain areas or completely ban the sale within its 
jurisdiction, as one Anchorage Assembly member has proposed.

Kassel said the assembly doesn't yet have plans for how it might 
begin to regulate the sale of marijuana in the borough. Tuesday's 
meeting will be the first time any of the three groups has officially 
held a discussion on regulating marijuana since the measure's passing.

"We don't discuss the marijuana retail establishments at all in our 
code," Kassel said. "I assume assembly members are interested in 
adding those to our code to determine what zones they would be 
appropriate in and what zones they would not be appropriate in."

North Pole Mayor Bryce Ward said he was looking forward to hearing 
how community members feel North Pole should regulate marijuana at 
the meeting. Whatever the city decides to do will ultimately be the 
decision of the City Council, he said, though he said he hopes to see 
what the state comes up with before passing onerous local regulations.

"We're not really sure what their requirements are going to be," Ward 
said. "I would hate to go out and start passing laws here in the 
Interior that would be in conflict with something the state has."

Kassel emphasized the local governments' limited power to add to the 
laws created by the ballot measure. For instance, the borough and 
cities cannot ban the possession or use of marijuana. Nor can they 
implement such high taxes as to essentially make its sale impossible, he said.

In the end, whatever decisions the Borough Assembly makes will likely 
be influenced by the decisions made by the Fairbanks and North Pole 
city councils, according to Kassel.

"I think if both cities had strong feelings on a particular item, 
that would weigh heavily on the borough, too," he said. "With our 
three local government bodies, it would be nice if we're all on the same page."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom