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INTERIOR OFFICIALS DISPUTE PUBLIC POT POLICY

FAIRBANKS - A public policy dispute is developing about whether people should be allowed to use marijuana on private property but in public view.

Local leaders are working on legislation as marijuana legalization day, Feb.  24, nears.

The borough mayor said he thinks pot use should be kept from public view.

"Families are quite concerned about what children get to see and get to watch," Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said during a telephone interview from his home on Saturday.

A Fairbanks councilman thinks private property owners ought to be allowed to use marijuana on their deck or in their yard, even if they can be seen by someone standing on a sidewalk or road.

It's about private property rights, Fairbanks City Councilman David Pruhs said.

"I would never endorse anything that takes away anyone's property rights," he said.

Under a measure by Pruhs, "If you are on your property or your friend's property, guess what? Light up.  The police are not going to bother you.  Period," the councilman said.

Pruhs is introducing his measure at today's Fairbanks City Council meeting.  If advanced, the ordinance would be subject to a vote on Feb.  23.

Hopkins said he is working with the borough attorney on drafting a more-restrictive measure.

The ordinance will come forward as a substitute to a marijuana-related ordinance sponsored by Assemblyman Lance Roberts.

Roberts' ordinance sets up a framework for marijuana laws in the Borough Code of Ordinances.  It goes before the Assembly Committee of the Whole on Feb.  19 and before the assembly for a public hearing and vote at the regular meeting on Feb.  26.

The borough mayor said he has been hearing from parents who don't want their children exposed to weed.

"If your yard can be seen from five different houses because you live in a subdivision, you can't be smoking it on your front porch or your yard," Hopkins said.

The borough mayor also wants to get a permitting process in place soon for private marijuana clubs, he said.

Hopkins said he hopes to have a permitting process in place by late April.

The mayor of the city of Fairbanks also is considering marijuana policy, though he is not working on any legislation, Mayor John Eberhart said during an interview Friday at city hall.

Eberhart sits on a cannabis advisory panel assembled by the borough mayor.

The city mayor leans toward keeping marijuana from public view, he said, but he's keeping an open mind.

Eberhart said he wants to hear public comment on the forthcoming marijuana legislation.

He would like to see consistency with the local marijuana laws, he added.

"If you ask me, is it better to have it out of public view? I think probably it is," Eberhart said.  "We want the rules to be easily understood, clear and hopefully consistent."

Hopkins said his pot advisory council meets Friday and will discuss marijuana and zoning in the borough.  Where marijuana establishments will be allowed to open will depend on zoning.

The cannabis advisory council meets at 10 a.m.  at the borough administrative center.