Pubdate: Tue, 27 Jan 2015
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764
Author: Matt Buxton

FIRST DRAFT OF POT BILL RECEIVES CRITICISM FROM ALL SIDES IN HEARING

JUNEAU - The Legislature's first stab at a bill dealing with 
legalized marijuana was roundly criticized by lawmakers, state 
officials and legalization advocates during its first hearing on Monday.

Criticism largely focused on Senate Bill 30's approach to making the 
voter initiative play nice with existing crimes for marijuana, which 
opponents said puts the burden on legal users.

Instead of repealing or amending existing laws, the first draft of 
the bill opted to keep those laws on the books while allowing the 
voter initiative - which legalizes the possession of up to one ounce 
of marijuana - to serve as a defense for those crimes.

It was a concept that some on the Joint Judiciary Committee were 
having trouble understanding, prompting some, like Anchorage 
Democratic Rep. Matt Claman, to try putting it into simpler terms.

"So the voters basically said, 'You can do this,'" he said. "Under 
this proposal we would be saying, 'You can't do it, but then you can 
try to come up with an excuse saying that you're allowed to do it anyway.'"

Legislative Legal Affairs member Hillary Martin, who helped in 
drafting the bills, said "that's one way to describe" how the bill would work.

Other lawmakers piled on with more visceral descriptions.

"The people of Alaska have voted to allow one ounce or less of 
marijuana," said Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski. "But 
here we're going to give the police the ability to go out and arrest 
people who are carrying that amount of marijuana, handcuff them, put 
them in a police car, take them to jail, lock them in jail, have them 
post a bond and have them potentially go through a jury trial while 
they assert that it's an affirmative defense?"

"Technically, that is a possibility," Martin said. "Technically there 
is nothing stopping a police officer from arresting someone for that 
now. But it's a low risk."

It wasn't a convincing argument, especially for House Judiciary Chair 
Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage.

"I share some of the same concerns that Sen. Wielechowski does," she 
said, addressing Martin. "You said it's low risk, but it's still some 
sort of a risk."

The defense route was defended loosely as just one method of 
approaching legalization and was one of the simpler approaches, 
instead of rewriting dozens of existing laws.

The critical lawmakers were backed up by both the state Public 
Defender Agency and the Department of Law.

Tracey Wollenberg, of the Public Defender Agency, said the defense 
would place a major burden on people who would otherwise be doing 
something legal and even if they end up without a penalty, it would 
create a criminal record.

"This bill is inconsistent with the language and express purpose of 
the initiative and undermines voter intent," she said. "Creating the 
defense is not implementing the voter intent. It is placing the 
burden on a defendant when they're arrested."

Richard Svobodny, of the Alaska Department of Law, said he felt the 
bill also missed the point of the voter initiative, which was to 
focus state assets on violent crimes. As is written, he said Senate 
Bill 30 would require additional court resources.

Ballot Measure 2, which passed by wide margins in the Fairbanks and 
Juneau areas, will make possession and use of marijuana legal on Feb. 
24. Lawmakers put forward Senate Bill 30 as an attempt to clarify 
legal gray areas before the initiative went into effect.

After the meeting, Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Lesil McGuire said 
she's been aware of the criticisms and said a new draft of the bill 
that would go the more favored route of repealing and reworking 
existing laws is in the works.

The next meeting on Senate Bill 30 will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, 
McGuire said. It will be hosted by the House Judiciary Committee.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom