Pubdate: Tue, 06 Jan 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: Keith Searles
Note: Keith Searles is a 40-year Alaska resident, the former editor 
of two Alaska weekly newspapers and he actually smoked marijuana with 
real hippies in the early 1970s. He currently writes the Alaska-based 
marijuana blog www.DenaliSmoke.com.

ALASKA'S FIGHT OVER LEGAL MARIJUANA ISN'T DONE YET

It's good to see our newly elected governor, Bill Walker, back away 
from his proposal to delay regulating commercial marijuana in Alaska. 
Somewhere along the line, politicians started seeing themselves as 
our leaders, rather than our representatives. We, the voters, elected 
Bill Walker to lead Alaska's administration and enforce our laws; we 
didn't send him to Juneau to lead us. He should know that no real 
Alaskan is going to be led anywhere.

Like it or not, the people have spoken and directed him, as our 
governor, to implement our new marijuana law, the new marijuana law 
that garnered more votes than he did. Long before Walker knew whether 
or not he would be our next governor, he knew legal marijuana was the 
new law of the land in Alaska. And he knew that if he won, he would 
have to implement that law.

It might actually be nice to have a little more time to draft 
regulations for commercial marijuana, just to make sure we get it 
right. Already, Outside interests are moving in to take advantage of 
our new law. Our former senator, Mike Gravel, is bringing Big 
Marijuana up from California, and a new TV reality show based in 
Sitka featuring growers from the upper Midwest is in the works. 
Interstate commerce can't be more than a decade away. We need to 
ensure Alaskans aren't pushed aside.

But after 40 years of repeated attempts to circumvent our state 
Constitution, it is hard to trust our state government when it comes 
to marijuana.

It's obvious that even though the people have spoken, there are 
lawmakers who feel so strongly against marijuana that they are 
willing to subvert the spirit of the law, if not the law itself.

This shouldn't be much of a surprise to pot smokers.

State troopers and city police have been doing it since 1975, when 
our Alaska Supreme Court ruled that Alaskans have a right to privacy 
when it comes to marijuana. And in response, beginning with their 
first toke, Alaska's marijuana users have been doing it too.

The regulation of marijuana is going to be done in a very hostile 
environment. As Anchorage Assembly member and retired Anchorage 
police lieutenant Paul Honeman said just before he voted to ban 
commercial marijuana in Anchorage, we could end up with state-run 
stores. Except for our Supreme Court, the state of Alaska has never 
been anything but adversarial toward marijuana.

Both Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott spoke out against the 
legalization of marijuana during their campaigns.

And Walker did reportedly joke with members of the Fairbanks Chamber 
of Commerce that he wondered if he could delay implementing the new 
law for another four years.

There's no way to know how organized and coordinated the opposition 
is. It's likely they are more so than we are: we, the would-be 
champions of the new law. They have been able to operate in daylight 
and have been free, though not necessarily obliged, to act in the 
open. Plus, they still have the law on their side.

By necessity, by virtue of being outlaws, Alaskans who use marijuana 
have been forced to operate behind a veil of smoke, utilizing a 
fairly efficient and highly decentralized distribution network that 
isn't necessarily sympathetic to legalized marijuana.

There are a lot of people, especially those in the black market, who 
have a significant financial interest in marijuana's continued 
prohibition and have a lot to lose with legalization. Not a lot of 
them are going to help, and from some we wouldn't even want help. 
Some of them may even intentionally sabotage efforts to get a fair 
set of regulations.

Estimates are difficult to make about an illegal market, but using 
the Marijuana Policy Project's market estimate of 17.5 metric tons or 
617,295 ounces, the black market in Alaska is currently worth more 
than $197 million a year, based on the current street price of $40 
for an eighth of an ounce.

It is very likely that the bulk of the marijuana consumed in Alaska 
is grown here as well. Given the powerful, antagonistic stance of 
many state lawmakers, though, Alaska's marijuana growers don't have 
any reason to expect they will be welcomed into the fold. We can't 
let the state and the opposition play into the hands of 
black-marketers. Somehow, we need to bring our local Alaska growers 
into the legal market even though their art used to be considered 
illegal. Alaska's micro-growers have a reputation for producing some 
of the highest quality smoke in the world.

They, as producers, and we, as consumers, need to be allowed to 
capitalize on and benefit from that well-deserved distinction.

We Alaskans are going have to stay engaged and vigilant if we are 
going to enjoy the freedoms we voted for ourselves.

First, the Anchorage Assembly entertains an ordinance to ban 
commercial cannabis, and then Gov. Walker suggests regulators will 
need more time.

These are just the first shots to be fired.

How hard the coming battle will be depends how hard we can fight.

There are a lot of impassioned and powerful people out there who are 
doing all they can to derail legalized marijuana in Alaska.

We supporters are going to have to be bold and audacious, loud and 
visible. But we're also going to have to be above-board, above 
reproach and right in every respect.

Pot smokers were only a fraction of the voters who supported Ballot 
Measure 2, and we still need continued support from the wide spectrum 
of Alaskans who voted for it, including libertarian-minded 
conservatives. Without follow-through, we will end up with emboldened 
black marketers and law enforcement, and with Honeman's suggested 
state-run stores that'll have to be stocked with Big Marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom