Pubdate: Fri, 13 Feb 2015
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764

LAWMAKERS HEAR NEED TO CHANGE MARIJUANA INDUSTRY OPT-OUTS

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Marijuana advocates said Thursday that all 
communities, including villages, should be able to prohibit a local 
marijuana industry.

Voters approved a ballot issue legalizing possession of up to an 
ounce of marijuana for adults 21 years and older. That goes into 
effect Feb. 24. It also directed the state to write regulations for a 
commercial marijuana industry.

The initiative specifies that local governments can prohibit 
marijuana sales and production.

Cynthia Franklin, the executive director of the Alcoholic Beverage 
Control Board, told the House Community and Regional Affairs 
Committee Thursday that the initiative's language would not allow 
established villages to ban sales and production, unless the 
Legislature acts to include them in the definition of local 
governments that can opt-out.

Initiative sponsor Tim Hinterberger said he supported a change 
allowing villages to prohibit the industry, and that such a change 
would be aligned with voter intent in the initiative.

Hinterberger, from the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, 
said the initiative had not meant to exclude any communities from opting out.

Lawrence Blood from the state Department of Commerce, Community and 
Economic Development said that the community opt-out allowances for 
alcohol allow a community to do so within five miles of the post 
office or other central facility.

Blood said defining a community can be challenging, but that the 
definition for the size of community allowed to opt-out of alcohol 
sales or otherwise limit them is a group of 25 or more people living 
in a social unit. Aside from prohibiting marijuana businesses, Blood 
noted that unincorporated communities would not have the power to 
develop other related regulations, such as taxes, but that the 
Legislature could do so for them acting as the Unorganized Borough.

Franklin also talked about the licensing options that may be 
available to communities.

The state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is responsible for 
writing the rules for a marijuana industry, unless the Legislature 
creates a separate marijuana board. Franklin has said that a separate 
board sharing staff with the ABC board is the preference of the governor.

Franklin said the ABC board was meeting Thursday to discuss 
marijuana, and that she believed the board would develop a general 
outline of possible licensing structures after it met.

Franklin said she believed the board would say it is considering a 
menu of local options, similar to the choices that communities have 
in regulating alcohol businesses. Communities may wind up with the 
ability to choose which types of licenses to allow, Franklin said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom