Pubdate: Thu, 11 Dec 2014
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2014 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n907/a05.html
Author: Louis Waldo

COMMON-SENSE POT REGULATIONS NEEDED

To the editor: I would like to offer an alternative proposal for 
local governments to consider than the suggestion of the Dec. 6 
News-Miner editorial on "Regulating Marijuana on the Local Level." 
The editorial encouraged the borough and cities to move with urgency 
to get local regulations in place before the Legislature enacts 
statewide laws. At the same time, they recommended more listening 
sessions be held to provide input.

The truth is, as last week's public town meeting showed, the rhetoric 
is still the same as we have all heard for the past year during the campaign.

Now is the time to anticipate and advance necessary ordinances 
related to zoning and other issues of local control.

As a member of the future local cannabis industry, my group is 
involved with working with the local and state governments to 
establish reasonable regulations to govern our fledgling industry. 
Since the election, we have had regular contact with the Alcoholic 
Beverage Control Board and legislators statewide.

Almost everyone I have met who is involved in creating cannabis 
businesses have been established local business owners or 
professionals who recognize and are not necessarily opposed to 
reasonable restrictions on our industry. We don't want to open 
dispensaries near schools and daycares - our markets are the same as 
liquor stores.

We do not want to package edibles to entice children, nor advertise 
in a manner that targets minors.

That is just ignorance and hysteria that foments those type of 
exaggerated concerns.

We are responsible Alaskans, community members, and your neighbors 
who want the same safe environment to raise our families as everyone else.

The local governments need to establish a working committee or task 
force just as the News-Miner suggested.

It should include members drawn from the professional group that have 
been working to establish the cannabis industry.

The Legislature will enact necessary comprehensive statewide laws. 
The borough committee needs to focus on establishing the required 
zoning revisions, hours of operation, and similar regulations that 
are currently in force for the production and sale of alcohol but 
tailored for any differences specific to marijuana. There are 
absolutely no reasons, or grounds, for creating more government, or 
more restrictive rules than already exist and work for the alcohol industry.

There is an old saying we all know - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Louis Waldo Fairbanks
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom