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AS LEGALIZATION NEARS, MILITARY SPREADS WORD: MARIJUANA IS STILL ILLEGAL ON BASE

FAIRBANKS - Tomorrow is the day marijuana becomes legal in Alaska, a day weed enthusiasts have long been waiting for.  The average citizen who is old enough to drink will now be able to possess or transport - but not sell - up to one ounce of weed or six plants.

While state and local officials are still struggling to determine specific regulations about where marijuana can be used, for the roughly 20,000 active duty military members in Alaska not much has changed.  Marijuana is still illegal on a federal level, and that means its presence on a federal installation such as a military post or base is prohibited.

"It's a DEA Schedule 1 drug and as such all federal employees, which includes military people, obviously, are not allowed to use it on duty or have it in their possession," United States Army Substance Abuse Program Manager Ron Huffman said.

Huffman said he briefs every new soldier at Fort Wainwright about marijuana use, and soldiers are well aware that it will continue to be illegal no matter what the civilian population is allowed to do.

"We're putting it out on every single media that we can find," Huffman said.

The military is diligent about policing installations and those that live on them, according to Huffman.  Incoming vehicles are inspected and commanders conduct "constant" walkthroughs of barracks and perform health and welfare inspections on a regular basis.  Military personnel are required to submit to random drug tests, and more than 23,000 urinalysis tests were conducted on the roughly 6,000 soldiers at Fort Wainwright last year, according to Huffman.

"It's not to catch people, it's to deter soldiers from falling into that trap," Huffman said.

Active duty military members that choose to live off post or base can run into trouble if their spouse or other dependents have marijuana in the home and law enforcement is called there for any reason.

"Even if you're off post, the question is going to become, probably, one of 'were you in possession?'" Fort Wainwright chief administrative and civilian legal counsel Gary Kluka said.  "You can sit there and argue, 'Oh, that's not my weed, that's my spouse's.' Tell that to the judge or the jury.  The practicality is, do you think we were born yesterday? I think it's going to be very hard to convince commanders that you didn't have possession."

Kluka said the military generally does not drug test civilian employees working on military installations, and most private contractors have their own set of drug test guidelines.  Guards check every driver entering an installation and suspected intoxicated drivers are dealt with immediately.  If a civilian employee gets stoned and arrives on post or base as a passenger, there's a good chance his or her employer will notice.

"The after-effects of weed can be noticeable.  If they're coming in stoned, just like if they were coming in drunk, yes, we can take appropriate action.  In terms of contractors, the contractor is going to be the one that is going to take action.  That's going to be a matter strictly between the contractor and the employee," Kluka said.

Kluka said the police and fire department on post are "getting ramped up" so they can be ready for any changes wrought by the new law.  He doesn't foresee any big problems immediately but suspects that may change when, and if, the borough and city decide to authorize the sale of marijuana.  Even then, Kluka said, service members need only remember one thing.

"The point is that they are soldiers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, wherever they are in the world.  The fact that they are in Alaska or Amsterdam doesn't matter, they are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and can and will be prosecuted," Kluka said.