Pubdate: Tue, 17 Feb 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: Amanda Bohman

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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom