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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom