Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) Copyright: 2015 Associated Press Contact: http://newsminer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764 ALASKANS ATTEND 'LESSONS LEARNED' MARIJUANA CONFERENCE IN COLORADO ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska law enforcement representatives and other public officials are in Colorado to learn how that state coped with legal recreational marijuana. More than 500 people from 38 states, including 40 Alaskans, are attending a conference titled, "Marijuana Impact on Public Health and Safety in Colorado." It's hosted by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police. Alaskans on Nov. 4 voted to legalize recreational marijuana. Beginning on Feb. 24, adults can no longer be arrested under state law for possessing up to an ounce of pot outside their homes. The measure lays out a nine-month rulemaking process for selling, growing and testing marijuana. The Colorado conference was open to law enforcement personnel, regulators and policymakers but not the media or the public, the Alaska Dispatch News (http://bit.ly/14EC1MN) reported. Marco Vasquez, the police chief in Erie, Colorado, and marijuana director for the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, said better data collection in public health, public safety and other areas, could have helped Colorado. His state also had a strict deadline for crafting rules and he suggested Alaska officials slow the timetable if possible. "There are a lot of moving parts (in the regulatory process) and if you're rushed and don't have adequate resources and don't have adequate funding you're creating a recipe for where you may fail," Vasquez said. Some Alaskans also visited Denver-area marijuana businesses in a tour coordinated by Vicente Sederberg LLC, a law firm that specializes in marijuana legalization. The firm often leads tours of grow sites and facilities that make edible pot, attorney Brian Vicente said. "I think perhaps it's a glimpse into the future for those Alaskans that were able to come down here and see how regulated marijuana works," Vicente said in a telephone interview. Colorado law enforcement has consistently opposed legalization, he said. "I think there is absolutely a degree of bias (at the conference)," Vicente said. "We think its important regulators meet with a diverse set of stakeholders, and law enforcement is an important voice, but when you have people who have opposed and imprisoned people over marijuana, it's tough to say you'll get correct information out of that meeting." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom