Pubdate: Tue, 03 Feb 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Column: Highly Informed
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: Scott Woodham

SEEKING ALASKA'S QUESTIONS ABOUT CANNABIS

On Feb. 24, limited personal possession and small private marijuana 
grows become unequivocally legal in Alaska for people over the age of 21.

To some people, that date means an end to an injustice that has 
exacerbated other inequities in America, and an end to unique 
contradictions inherent to Alaska laws regarding marijuana. To 
others, it represents a capitulation in the war against intoxication 
and a shift that brings Alaska closer to vice and indolence. Many 
others are somewhere between. No matter our perspectives on the 
personal use of marijuana, it is unavoidable that Alaska is now 
front-and-center in a nationwide trend and that history is unfolding 
before our eyes.

Alaska and marijuana have already had history together, and it means 
our state will take a different path after legalization than other 
states have. In 1974, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that Alaskans' 
constitutional right to privacy protected their freedom to possess 
and grow cannabis in the home. Marijuana and privacy have been 
intertwined ever since.

But the last election turned cannabis into an an undoubtedly public 
matter. That change in perspective entails an adjustment of society 
as well as policy, but no one can know what form it will take. And it 
could be that nothing much changes for the majority of Alaskans.

For many reasons, an end to marijuana prohibition in Alaska will also 
mean a period of confusion and misunderstandings. It may also mean 
coming to terms with not being able to answer some difficult 
questions just yet. Cannabis is everywhere in Alaska, and so are the 
laws right now, to say nothing of social mores. Policies are 
incomplete, and the Legislature is holding hearings on the matter 
almost daily. Boroughs and municipalities have begun convening panels 
and considering ordinances.

This regular column, "Highly Informed," will attempt to answer 
questions Alaskans are sure to have during this time of uncertainty. 
We'll tackle everything from law, science and policy to etiquette, 
culture and equipment, and more, and we'll try to have fun along the 
way. No matter anyone's individual familiarity with cannabis, we're 
all cheechakos on Alaska's new frontier. And the odds are good that 
if one person wonders something, others wonder it too.

We'll start out asking a few basic questions ourselves, but we hope 
that readers will chime in and help drive this column too. Please 
send questions relating to any aspect of cannabis in the Great Land 
to  with the words "Highly 
Informed" leading the subject line.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom