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NORTH POLE TO VOTE ON MARIJUANA POLICY

FAIRBANKS - The first local legislation dealing with marijuana comes up for a vote today in North Pole.

The City Council is taking up two ordinances.  One outlines where marijuana will be allowed to be used in North Pole and the second prohibits using flammables to extract oils from the marijuana plant.

Mayor Bryce Ward sponsored both measures.

A voter-approved state law decriminalizing marijuana goes into effect on Feb.  24, though using marijuana in public remains prohibited.

North Pole Ordinance 15-02 creates a definition for public place and sets a $100 penalty for violating the prohibition on public marijuana consumption.

"The ordinance as presented and as modified does not restrict someone's right to consume on their private property," Ward said in an email.

The ordinance defines public place as "a place to which the public has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets, highways, sidewalks, alleys, transportation facilities, parking areas, convention centers, sports arenas, schools, places of business or amusement, shopping centers, malls, parks, playgrounds, prisons, and other portions of apartment houses and hotels not constituting rooms or apartments designed for actual residence such as hallways, lobbies and doorways."

If approved, North Pole residents could use marijuana on private property with the permission of the owner.  That includes indoors or outdoors, Ward said.

A provision of the ordinance states that a "person who consumes marijuana must take reasonable precautions to ensure consumption is not a nuisance to neighboring properties."

The second ordinance was drafted to deal with a potential public safety issue.  A method of extracting hash oil from marijuana involves using flammables such as butane.  The technique has been known to cause explosions.

Ordinance 15-01 prohibits using flammables to extract hash oil and sets a $1,500 fine.  Non-flammable methods of extraction would still be allowed, according to the ordinance.

Hash oil extraction using butane is blamed for an explosion at a North Pole home on Dec.  8.  No one was injured, but a rented home sustained an estimated $40,000 in damage.