Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 2015
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764
Author: Amanda Bohman

INTERIOR OFFICIALS DISPUTE PUBLIC POT POLICY

FAIRBANKS - A public policy dispute is developing about whether 
people should be allowed to use marijuana on private property but in 
public view.

Local leaders are working on legislation as marijuana legalization 
day, Feb. 24, nears.

The borough mayor said he thinks pot use should be kept from public view.

"Families are quite concerned about what children get to see and get 
to watch," Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said 
during a telephone interview from his home on Saturday.

A Fairbanks councilman thinks private property owners ought to be 
allowed to use marijuana on their deck or in their yard, even if they 
can be seen by someone standing on a sidewalk or road.

It's about private property rights, Fairbanks City Councilman David Pruhs said.

"I would never endorse anything that takes away anyone's property 
rights," he said.

Under a measure by Pruhs, "If you are on your property or your 
friend's property, guess what? Light up. The police are not going to 
bother you. Period," the councilman said.

Pruhs is introducing his measure at today's Fairbanks City Council 
meeting. If advanced, the ordinance would be subject to a vote on Feb. 23.

Hopkins said he is working with the borough attorney on drafting a 
more-restrictive measure.

The ordinance will come forward as a substitute to a 
marijuana-related ordinance sponsored by Assemblyman Lance Roberts.

Roberts' ordinance sets up a framework for marijuana laws in the 
Borough Code of Ordinances. It goes before the Assembly Committee of 
the Whole on Feb. 19 and before the assembly for a public hearing and 
vote at the regular meeting on Feb. 26.

The borough mayor said he has been hearing from parents who don't 
want their children exposed to weed.

"If your yard can be seen from five different houses because you live 
in a subdivision, you can't be smoking it on your front porch or your 
yard," Hopkins said.

The borough mayor also wants to get a permitting process in place 
soon for private marijuana clubs, he said.

Hopkins said he hopes to have a permitting process in place by late April.

The mayor of the city of Fairbanks also is considering marijuana 
policy, though he is not working on any legislation, Mayor John 
Eberhart said during an interview Friday at city hall.

Eberhart sits on a cannabis advisory panel assembled by the borough mayor.

The city mayor leans toward keeping marijuana from public view, he 
said, but he's keeping an open mind.

Eberhart said he wants to hear public comment on the forthcoming 
marijuana legislation.

He would like to see consistency with the local marijuana laws, he added.

"If you ask me, is it better to have it out of public view? I think 
probably it is," Eberhart said. "We want the rules to be easily 
understood, clear and hopefully consistent."

Hopkins said his pot advisory council meets Friday and will discuss 
marijuana and zoning in the borough. Where marijuana establishments 
will be allowed to open will depend on zoning.

The cannabis advisory council meets at 10 a.m. at the borough 
administrative center.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom