Alaska's legal marijuana in jeopardy.

Many of you may know that Alaska's constitutional privacy provision has protected marijuana use in one's home for 30 years now, following the Ravin decision in 1975. However, once again, our Republican governor and senators are trying to recriminalize marijuana use, this time by attaching it to a meth bill. Here is my letter to my state representative. I encourage any other Alaskans who may be hanging out here to write their representative NOW because if this bill is passed through the House, the governor WILL sign it.

Dear Rep. Berkowitz:

I'm writing to ask you, as my representative, to oppose the inclusion of marijuana in the drug bill that has been forwarded to you by the Senate. I don't think anyone in the entire state opposes shutting down the meth labs, but by including marijuana in this bill, the Senate means to criminalize probably at least a third of the residents of Alaska, probably more. I moved here in 1975, the year of the landmark Ravin decision. I have always been proud to live in a state with such high regard for its citizens' privacy. Over the years I've watched as time and time again certain sectors of the population have tried to recriminalize the herb, only to see their efforts shot down by the Appeals and Supreme Court, as it should have been. This matter is settled law, and should be dropped.

You and I both know that many productive citizens of this state smoke marijuana - including many on the Bar - with no adverse effects, and, of course, marijuana smokers don't cause nearly the problems that alcohol drinkers do. This is just a political ploy by the Senate Republicans and the governor so that they appear to be "doing something" about the drug problem.

As for the argument that marijuana is stronger now than in 1975, I have no way of knowing whether or not this is true. However, any pot smoker will tell you that when they get the desired effect, they stop smoking. Overdoses just don't happen. There's just no reason why the peaceful pot smokers, sitting around their house watching TV and munching on corn chips, should, with a stroke of an unpopular governor's pen, be turned into criminals.

Thanks for listening. And good luck on your bid for Governor. I am so pleased to see you and Eric Croft, both strong candidates, running.

If not completely impossible.

Interestingly, one of the main sponsors of this bill kind of showed her true colors yesterday afternoon on the local news. She actually said that she really doesn't have that big an issue with people smoking marijuana in their homes, it's their business if that's what they want to do, but by keeping it legal, there's just too much temptation for people to grow it and sell it, a product "worth its weight in gold." So my guess is that what really gets their goat is that marijuana use can't be taxed as alcohol and cigarettes are. It always comes down to the almighty dollar with these Republicans, and they don't care whose rights they have to trample on to keep control of the cash flow.

ever have I heard of someone O'D ed from too much weed,maybe they had alcohol,pills,cocaine,speed,lsd,or any number of other substances in their blood/body but never did someone o/d or die. I once heard Art Linkletter
had a kid who jumped off a balcony maybe it was lsd,maybe they balmed weed.
I bet their are 30,000,000 Americans who indulge themselves. Hell weed arrests are big business they keep law enforcement in business.
Are you a mod? I hope so for I desire to be on the good side of management as well as offer an opinion with an issue I have had decades worth of experience..

thanks

consuming the amount of it neccessary would be a hurculean task

...to OD on pot would require smoking a joint whose dimensions resemble a telephone pole. So yeah, try lighting that puppie up. :)

In one of the more recent elections, we had a referendum on out-and-out legalizing all marijuana possession in the state (with no limits on amount, if I remember right) which received 40 percent approval by the voters. There was a lot of involvement by so-called "outside interests", NORML, et al., in the run-up to the election which caused a certain amount of backlash among the Republicans. (Not like THEY ever take any outside contributions, hahaha). It's the same reaction we get from the Republicans up here about interference by "Outside" environmental groups on ANWR, etc. It's probably best for this to be handled in-state, I'm afraid. If past experience is any indicator, they'll get this bill passed, somebody will set themselves up to get busted, and the Supreme Court will knock the law down as unconstitutional -- AGAIN. We've been through this cycle many times.

for over 200 years,hell George Washington grew and smoked HEMP. In fact many of our founding fathers smoked and grew HEMP. Its not just an Alaskan problem,its a national problem,that is its illegality. People from NORML have the right idea but you say it interferes with the local politics of Hemp. I applaud the efforts of you folks in Alaska by driving home the point HEMP,weed is not the scourge powered drugs,pills,alcohol is.
In fact if we Americans who enjoyed the benefits of Hemp,weed,herb,were allowed to grow our own think of the many thousands of dollars that could be pumped back into the economy ie."munchies,clothes,tuition,etc." but no
my government is hell bent on keeping Hemp classified as a class 1 drug, its sickening,,,...
Blue from Alaska I been involved with weed 43 years,I ran the gamut of all drugs in my life,pills,speed,cocaine,heroin,lsd,but nothing compares to smoking a joint. Another thing special about weed
if I cant smoke a joint tonight hey,no problem,no pains,no withdrawals,no agonizing effects not so with the other drugs I mentioned,..
Your ok Blue.. Keep in touch and let me know how the effort goes...

A friend from NYC,,

You and I have a similar history, it appears :hippie:, except for the heroin which I somehow had enough sense to stay away from. I agree it's ridiculous we're still fighting this battle, but we're a very independent lot up here, so even if they pass this law with the inclusion of marijuana, I doubt that it will make much difference in people's lifestyles. We have law enforcement and former top-level corrections officials on our side in this, so I think we are winning the war, even if we might lose a battle or two.

Thanks for the support.

...but at the same time, social norms change gradually over time, and while I think some strategery is a good idea, sitting by idly and not trying to make changes isn't a good strategy either. We can't sit back and not be active on this issue for fear of backlash. Keep at it. :)

From tonight's local NBC news

http://www.ktuu.com/cms/anmviewer.asp?a=3426&z=1

Juneau, Alaska - The House of Representatives today rejected changes the Senate made in a bill targeting methamphetamine. In a vote that split Republicans, the House decided to take the drug legislation to a conference committee with the Senate. Whether they voted for it or not, members of the House today described anti-drug legislation passed by the Senate last week as flawed.

“I think it’s weak on methamphetamines, I think it’s weird on marijuana and I think it’s wrong on public process,” said Rep. Ethan Berkowitz, D-Anchorage.

The bill began as a measure by Rep. Jay Ramras to require retailers to keep logbooks on sales of precursor drugs that could be used to cook methamphetamine. The Senate dropped the logbooks, required hundreds of medications to be kept behind the counter and added an entire new section recriminalizing marijuana.

<snip>

Democrats said the marijuana section appears to go against a 30-year-old Supreme Court ruling on privacy known as the Ravin case.

“We need to have some hearings on this and to have some evidence, so that we can vote intelligently,” said Rep. Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage.

The House voted 23-15 to reject the bill as amended by the Senate. A conference committee will determine whether the legislation goes to pot.


:)