Alaska marijuana recriminalization bill

[Asgaya Dihi]

As most would probably know it's been legal in Alaska to possess up to 1/4 pound of marijuana for personal use in your own home due to State Supreme Court rulings on their privacy laws. Gov. Frank Murkowski has spent much of the last year trying to recriminalize it and finally got it though by attaching it to a meth bill.

The meaning of the new law is certainly going to be misconstrued by the press so here's a couple of small details they might miss quoted from an article in the Drug War Cronicle. Full story at link. The more immediate impact I think is near the end of the article, the rest is more what we eventually deal with if it goes farther. As of now it doesn't override the Constitutional rulings. Not yet at least.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/439/alaskasuit.shtml

In the meantime, Alaskans who possess less than a quarter-pound inside their own homes apparently have nothing to fear -- despite what the law says. When queried about how the law was being enforced, the Department of Law's Morones simply referred DRCNet to a May 12 attorney general's law enforcement bulletin on the new marijuana laws.

The new law "will make no immediate change in police authority regarding personal possession of under four ounces by adults in their homes," the bulletin said. In fact, the attorney general conceded, "the new laws do not alter the decisions by the Alaska appellate courts that noncommercial possession of small amounts by adults in homes is constitutionally protected (Ravin v. State, 1975), that the amount of marijuana covered by Ravin is up to four ounces (Noy v. State, 2003), and that search warrants to investigate marijuana growing require probable cause that the cultivation was for commercial purposes or that there is more than four ounces on the premises (Crocker v. State, 2004)."

While the bulletin promised that the state "will vigorously litigate all these legal issues because it's important that the courts overrule these prior decisions," the new law "sets the stage for that to happen, but it doesn't do it automatically." Thus, the bulletin told law enforcement, "for time being, and until you are advised differently by the District Attorney in your region, there is no basis for changing law enforcement policies for investigation of nonpublic possession of less than four ounces of marijuana by adults."