Pubdate: Thu, 06 Aug 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Column: Highly Informed
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: Scott Woodham

IS THERE ANY WAY TO TRADE MY HOMEGROWN POT IN ALASKA?

"Chilly Willy" asks Highly Informed this week, "Will I be able to 
barter, or trade for service, my legally grown weed? Will there be a 
safe and legal way for me to trade my bud?"

Willy is asking about personal-use herb, not any grown by proxy for a 
medical card holder, and not any grown by licensed commercial growers 
after they're established. While strictly speaking, trading goods or 
services for personal-use cannabis is not allowed according to the 
state, some circumstances might make enforcement or regulation difficult.

As Alaska Dispatch News has previously reported, authorities have 
said that bartering personal-use cannabis in exchange for goods or 
services is not allowed. The reasoning is that receiving something of 
value is considered profiting from cannabis reserved for personal 
use, not profit.

In a weird way, this is where statute and people who adhere to 
notions of cannabis karma may agree. One expression of that ethos 
holds that cannabis is a gift with enough intrinsic profit for 
humanity, and rather than trying to add profit on the backs of 
friends, freely sharing respects the original gift. The state may not 
believe that, but nevertheless, Alaska statute expressly allows 
giving some cannabis to another adult, but doesn't mention trading or 
bartering, and expressly disallows compensation in exchange for 
personal-use pot.

Regardless of whether sharing really is caring, one adult 21 or older 
giving an ounce or less of cannabis to another adult is specifically 
allowed by statute. Barter isn't specifically mentioned, but 
deliveries of a certain quantity that don't involve "remuneration" 
are allowed by paragraph (c) of section 17.38.020 of Alaska statute.

Cynthia Franklin, head of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which 
will be in charge of enforcing regulation of Alaska's marijuana 
industry once it takes shape, said that nothing has changed with 
respect to the subject of barter and gifting since that last report. 
A change in the remuneration language or changes that might allow 
bartering of personal-use cannabis would require legislative action, she said.

One bill, SB 30, that passed the Senate last legislative session 
would add language addressing bartering, but the House has yet to consider it.

So for now, profiting from a personal-use garden by exchanging the 
dank for anything else of value runs the risk of being considered an 
unlicensed commercial operation, subject to legal consequences.

That risk will vary according to circumstances, but because of 
language against "remuneration" in the statutes created by Ballot 
Measure 2 covering personal use, anyone who could be seen as 
profiting from a personal-use garden will be running one.

And to avoid a misunderstanding, it's important to note that the 
definitions of "remuneration" in general dictionaries usually center 
on an exchange of money, but in a legal context, that word refers to 
many forms of compensation, not just legal tender.

But what if Willy wanted to trade homemade product with someone else? 
Would a pot-for-pot trade be acceptable if the amounts were under the 
1-ounce limit allowed for gifts?

Maybe Chilly and a friend decide to grow clones of the same cannabis 
strain but use different nutrients, or one uses soil and the other 
hydro. Maybe after harvest and curing, they give each other an ounce 
or less and make plans to compare notes at a potluck dinner and epic 
tasting session.

Franklin said a situation along those lines would be difficult to 
regulate or enforce against but that to her it doesn't seem to fit 
the category of a rogue commercial operation.

"For the board and regulatory agency," Franklin said, "the concern is 
always that someone comes up with something they call a gift but 
which is really the basis of an unregulated commercial operation."

Although statutes don't specifically address "trading," a scenario of 
gifts like that might end up being in Willy's words "a legal and safe 
way" for home growers to trade bud or its derivatives in amounts 
allowed as a gift between adults. But risk will exist if larger 
quantities or other circumstances arise to trigger the attention of 
authorities.

If Chilly Willy wants to trade a quarter pound one month to someone 
for a new garage door, then a ball of hash the size of an angry 
toddler's fist for a walk-in smokehouse another month, and maybe an 
ounce for a cord of firewood the next, authorities may consider him 
gaining from his personal stash, and he's on his own.

Have a question about marijuana news or culture in Alaska? Send it to  with "Highly Informed" in the subject line.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom