Pubdate: Tue, 17 Mar 2015
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764

MARIJUANA BILL'S FUTURE UNCLEAR: WITH SEN. KELLY'S CONTROVERSIAL 
AMENDMENT, SB 30 MAY NOT BE PASSED THIS SESSION

After a rough initial outing and complete rewrite, the Alaska 
Legislature's attempt at setting state rules for marijuana 
legalization appears to have ground to a halt once more. Senate Bill 
30 would rewrite state laws to reflect marijuana's legal status for 
personal possession and use following voter approval of Ballot 
Measure 2 in November 2014. But a controversial amendment by 
Fairbanks Sen. Pete Kelly has dimmed the prospect that a fix to 
conflicting state laws on legalization is imminent.

At first, SB 30 was an ugly bill. Rather than reflect marijuana's 
legal status, as originally written, the bill would have left state 
drug laws intact - including illegal status for pot - and simply let 
defendants charged with marijuana possession offer the passage of 
legalization as an affirmative defense. Legislators, state law 
officials and legalization advocates railed against the bill's 
language as not reflective of voters' intention in passing the ballot measure.

After a brief hiatus, the bill was rewritten to better address laws 
in the state that needed to be changed to reflect the drug's legal 
status. It took time and debate, but the Legislature appeared to be 
heading toward a bill that would clarify state drug laws, reflect 
voter intention and maintain prohibitions on larger-scale marijuana growing.

That changed last week, when Sen. Kelly introduced an amendment that 
would make marijuana concentrates and edibles - and perhaps even the 
plant itself - illegal in 2017, as soon as the initiative could 
legally be altered.

Sen. Kelly, in arguing for his amendment, said voters had no idea the 
marijuana initiative would legalize marijuana edibles and 
concentrates if passed. While it's true the language of the ballot 
measure as it appeared on the ballot doesn't make explicit mention of 
edibles and concentrates, instead referring to "marijuana and 
marijuana products," significant advertising and debating was done by 
those opposing the measure that highlighted the fact such products 
also would be made legal. Alaska news reports and coverage of the 
legalization of the drug in Colorado and Washington also made 
repeated mention of edibles and other marijuana products. While some 
Alaskans may not have been aware of that aspect of the measure, it's 
a safe bet most did know about it.

Whether or not one agrees on Sen. Kelly's reading of voter awareness 
of the legalization of derivative marijuana products, the wording of 
his amendment, either by accident or design, might well ban marijuana 
possession and use outright come 2017. It would criminalize any 
"material" containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active 
ingredient in marijuana. It's not hard to see how that could result 
in a complete ban on marijuana.

So SB 30 appears dead in the water once again, with no hearings 
scheduled and no apparent way to resolve the bill's conflict with 
voter intent in passing marijuana legalization.

All of a sudden, 90 days is looking like it might not be enough time 
for legislators to clean up state drug laws and bring Alaska's 
statutes into line with the intent of its people. If that proves to 
be the case, it would be an indictment of those in a position to make 
a difference on the issue in Juneau.

Municipalities have done good work in sorting out their definitions 
of how and where marijuana can be used. The Legislature should get on 
the ball and eliminate the conflicts in state law, not create them.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom