Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Laurel Andrews

Cannabis North

SENATORS POSTPONE DEBATE ON ALASKA MARIJUANA CRIME BILL

The Alaska Senate's discussion of a marijuana crime bill was put on 
hold until Monday after two amendments were offered too soon to be 
studied before Friday's floor session began, lawmakers said.

One amendment, to be introduced by Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, 
deals with marijuana concentrates. The other would remove marijuana 
from the list of controlled substances in state laws and will be 
introduced by Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage.

The bill up for debate, Senate Bill 30, addresses marijuana and 
Alaska's criminal statutes and was introduced as part of the response 
to the initiative approved in November that legalized some 
recreational uses of the drug.

The bill has changed as it makes its way through the Senate -- the 
Judiciary Committee version, which made marijuana a non-controlled 
substance, was later replaced by the Finance Committee's version, in 
which pot was placed back on the controlled substance schedule.

After being delayed Wednesday, the bill was scheduled to be heard on 
the Senate floor Friday. However, two amendments were brought up 
right before the floor session, said Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole.

Coghill said senators needed a chance to review the two amendments 
before bringing them to the floor.

Kelly was planning to reintroduce an amendment restricting marijuana 
concentrates, staffer Joe Byrnes said. "We got the amendment from 
drafting really late, so it was just too late to bring up on the 
floor," he said.

Coghill said Kelly had brought forward a version Friday morning, 
which was revised again right before the floor session. Coghill said 
he hadn't had a chance to "digest that version" yet.

Kelly had introduced an amendment banning all marijuana concentrates 
on Feb. 24, 2017. The amendment passed an initial vote in the Finance 
Committee, but the amendment was later removed from the final version 
passed out of committee.

The second amendment was to be introduced by Wielechowski.

Wielechowski said his 76-page amendment makes marijuana a 
non-controlled substance and removes felony charges for 
marijuana-related crimes. "Essentially what it did is it reverted 
back to the judiciary version" of the crime bill, Wielechowski said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom