Pubdate: Thu, 29 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

CRITICS OF FAILED MARIJUANA BILLS SAY THE MEASURES WOULD HAVE UNDERMINED VOTERS

JUNEAU - After a disastrous first hearing on a bill dealing with 
legalized marijuana, lawmakers didn't mince their words Wednesday to 
say the bill, as drafted, was dead.

"I want to announce that it's not this committee's intention to move 
either of these bills," said House Judiciary Chairwoman Rep. 
Gabrielle LeDoux of two bills critics said undermined the voter 
initiative legalizing marijuana. "We're not going to do anything more 
on these bills ... until these bills come back from legislative 
drafting in a form that we feel reflects the will of the people."

The Anchorage Republican said Senate Bill 30 and its House companion 
bill House Bill 79 were headed back to the drafting table for major 
rewrites to eliminate a provision that drew sharp criticism from 
lawmakers, the Department of Law, the Public Defender's office and 
legalization groups.

Instead of rewriting Alaska's existing laws to account for Ballot 
Measure 2's legalization of possession of up to one ounce of 
marijuana, the first draft had offered up the initiative's provisions 
as a defense and left the crimes on the books.

That meant people could have potentially been arrested and charged 
for something that wasn't illegal under Ballot Measure 2.

Quinlan Steiner, the state public defender, testified on the changes 
on Wednesday to say "the major concern we had is being addressed by 
the rewrite." He withheld further comment on the bill until he could 
see the revision.

The day before, another representative for the office had blasted the 
bill for taking the route of establishing a defense.

With the current version of the bill off the table, the committee 
turned its attention to other outstanding issues with marijuana 
legalization, such as edibles and commercial sales.

For much of that the committee spoke with Cynthia Franklin, the 
director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, whose agency is the 
default one to handle commercial regulations under the initiative.

Franklin urged that if lawmakers want to set up a marijuana control 
board to do it within the fast-tracked crime bill so the state can 
have the most time available to work on its regulations.

She also said she felt regulations would best be served with a 
marijuana control board that mirrors the makeup of the Alcoholic 
Beverage Control Board but that the two share the same support staff.

"We don't have a bunch of marijuana regulators waiting in the 
closet," she said.

She said she sees the need for commercial marijuana sales in Alaska 
to not be treated solely through the criminal realm, but to be 
treated similarly to alcohol. When businesses fall out of line, her 
agency is set up to help people get back on track and meet the regulations.

"It's not a purely enforcement issue and it's not a purely business 
issue, it's a hybrid issue," she said. "The closest we have to 
experts are the people we have sitting right in this agency."

In addition to her comments about the regulations of legalizing 
commercial marijuana, Franklin was clearly well-prepared for the 
meeting and had done thorough research on states that have already 
legalized marijuana. When asked about the risk of edibles, she said 
Colorado already has developed recommended portions to avoid the 
initial wave of bad experiences in the early days of legalization.

Many committee members were impressed with Franklin and Sen. Lesil 
McGuire, the chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked her 
to draft up a set of statutory changes the Alcoholic Beverage Control 
board would need to regulate marijuana properly.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom