Pubdate: Sat, 21 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: Matt Buxton

MARIJUANA BILL TO IRON OUT LEGALIZATION DETAILS MOVES OUT OF SENATE COMMITTEE

JUNEAU - After weeks of hearings and substantial rewrites that added 
many dozens of pages, a bill to smooth out wrinkles between existing 
criminal laws and the initiative to legalize marijuana finally left 
its first committee on Friday, but not in a shape its authors were 
completely pleased with.

Senate Bill 30 would remove marijuana from the controlled substances 
list, amend existing drug laws to allow for possession of one ounce 
or less of marijuana and create laws surrounding underage consumption 
of marijuana, but left the Senate Judiciary Committee with more work 
to be done.

Left unanswered are questions revolving around how minors using 
marijuana will be handled and whether their infractions would be 
easily searchable, as well as outstanding questions about marijuana 
concentrates.

The original goal had been to get the bill into the books by the time 
Ballot Measure 2 went into effect next Tuesday. Instead, it has been 
scheduled to appear in the next committee, the Senate Finance 
Committee, on that day. With the reality of the legislative process, 
getting the bill on the books by the end of the month is a 
near-impossible goal.

That said, committee chair Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, said the 
bill, when it gets on the books, is something most marijuana users 
will be happy with.

"If you're a person out there who uses marijuana and believes we've 
treated it unfairly, this should be a better day for you," she said. 
"What we're doing is we're going to regulate it, and more to the 
point, what we're also doing is saying if you're 21 and older, we're 
going to allow you to possess it and transport it legally."

Faced with ambiguities in the ballot measure, the committee typically 
has trended toward being more progressive than seizing on 
opportunities to undermine the initiative.

McGuire said one example of that is driving with marijuana in a 
vehicle. She said law enforcement could have room to charge and 
prosecute users under the initiative as-is, but instead Senate Bill 
30 opted for an open container law that leaves law enforcement with a 
more difficult task of proving the marijuana had been used inside the vehicle.

The law also currently makes all minor misconduct with marijuana 
confidential to not leave a damaging public record, something that is 
not done for alcohol, although it's also being considered. The 
practicality of the measure was questioned, and the likely solution 
would be to remove minors from the searchable online database 
CourtView once the case is resolved. That issue likely will be 
addressed in the next committee.

Other questions sprung up around the issue of marijuana concentrates.

The law allows any person 21 or older to possess and transport up to 
one ounce of marijuana, which is defined to include both the plant 
material and concentrates.

Allowing someone to carry with them up to one ounce of concentrates 
hasn't been sitting well with North Pole Republican Sen. John Coghill 
because of its higher potency and value.

Coghill put forward an amendment to the bill that would have limited 
possession of concentrates to five grams, roughly the product of an 
ounce of marijuana flower.

The amendment was opposed by marijuana groups and Sen. Peter 
Micciche, R-Soldotna, said whether or not they supported 
concentrates, it was in the ballot measure.

"We've talked a lot about what the voters thought," he said. "It's 
written in black and white, and whether or not they read a word of 
it, it's there in law."

Coghill ultimately withdrew his amendment, but said he would consider 
other ways of going about limiting concentrates to offer by the time 
the bill reaches the floor.

The committee did adopt an amendment that would limit the sale of 
marijuana concentrates, when sales go into effect in a year, to five grams.

After the meeting, McGuire said even though the bill left committee 
with loose ends, the entire package of legislation should just be 
considered a first of many steps.

"It's the first chapter in many that the Alaska Legislature along 
with the Marijuana Control Board will go through," she said. "The 
idea that you're somehow going to take a 90-page bill and be done 
with the issue of marijuana is not practical at all. There's a lot of 
work to do. Not just with this bill this session but with the subject 
altogether."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom