Pubdate: Sat, 31 Jan 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Dean Guaneli
Note: Dean Guaneli worked for the Alaska Attorney General's Office 
from 1976-2006. He drafted Alaska's medical marijuana law in 1999, 
and non-medical marijuana law in 2006. He is retired in Juneau.

TAKE THE PROFIT OUT OF MARIJUANA, KEEP ALASKA LEGALIZATION RATIONAL AND SAFE

Like it or not (and almost half of voting Alaskans don't like it 
all), legal marijuana is here for the foreseeable future.

To deal with it, we need a different approach. This is Alaska's law, 
and we shouldn't automatically follow what's been done -- and is not 
working particularly well -- in Colorado.

The Legislature must maintain public safety, and at the same time it 
should try to adhere to the intent of voters who primarily wanted a 
legal source of tested and taxed marijuana. The trick is to figure out how.

To begin with, the Legislature should realize a yes vote doesn't mean 
people voted for a large-scale commercial marijuana industry that 
floods us with kid-friendly advertising and packaging. And there was 
nothing in the ballot measure that says companies should provide 
ever-increasing THC levels in concentrated forms, like the stuff 
being sold in Colorado.

Should the Legislature limit advertising? Yes, of course. Ban 
marijuana concentrates? Definitely. Putting marijuana in foods like 
classic marijuana brownies is OK; however, sky-high concentrated THC 
should continue to be illegal.

But let's also deal with the root cause of the excesses and abuses of 
the marijuana industry by eliminating the commercial profit motive.

What we need are nonprofits, cooperatives, cannabis clubs, call them 
what you will, that responsibly grow and sell marijuana, but are not 
driven by profits that lead to tacky advertising and other unsavory 
business practices.

Voters also wanted to minimize the illegal marijuana market, and 
not-for-profit outlets help accomplish that goal, too. Because they 
don't have to send hefty profits to their corporate bosses, 
nonprofits only have to cover their out-of-pocket expenses (including 
taxes, of course). They can therefore keep prices at a reasonable 
level, and responsible users can avoid the temptation of low prices 
charged by street dealers.

In Colorado, marijuana taxes and corporate profit margins have pushed 
the retail price much higher than the illegal street price. So 
illegal street sellers continue to thrive. (Paying $200 an ounce for 
street marijuana may not seem like a bargain, but it beats paying 
double that price in retail stores.)

Taking the profit out of marijuana selling and growing is a win-win 
scenario. Well, maybe not for the commercial marijuana industry 
that's now going gangbusters in Colorado.

Legislators who support this should be prepared for marijuana 
industry lobbyists to pressure them to back off. Maybe it's time for 
legislators to also hear from responsible not-for-profit cooperatives 
willing to provide regulated and tested marijuana at a reasonable price.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom