Alaska marijuana measure has enough signatures for vote: backers

[Tudo]

Reuters) - Backers of a measure to legalize recreational marijuana use in Alaska submitted 45,000 signatures on Wednesday in support of their cause, more than enough to put the matter to voters later this year, they said.
"Marijuana prohibition is a failed policy that has made criminals out of law-abiding Alaskans and Americans for far too long," said Tim Hinterberger, a co-sponsor of the initiative and a professor of neuroanatomy at the University of Alaska Anchorage, told Reuters.
The measure, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants of their own, would make Alaska the third state to legalize recreational pot use after Colorado and Washington voted to do so in 2012.
If enough signatures are validated - roughly 30,000 are needed - the measure will be eligible to go before Alaska voters in the 2014 primary election in August.
Alaska election officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Dan Grebler)
http://news.yahoo.com/measure-legal...pdGxiBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1ZJUDMzNV8x

 

[Bud Green]

I appreciate seeing "failed policy" being changed, but I don't like what politicians do to it.
If you're allowed to grow 6 plants,, you should harvest enough to hold yourself and your wife and maybe even a few friends over 'til harvest next year... So what about the pound or 2 (or 3 or 4) that you got from your 6 plants and you sealed it up in jars 'til next harvest? If you have that stashed in your closet and leo finds it, will you be breaking the possesion law? Instead of making new laws to make pot legal, why can't they just scratch off the old laws that made it illegal in the first place?
Just my 2 cents..

 

[m314]

I don't like the limits either. If it's going to be regulated at all, it should be treated like alcohol. I could have 100 cases of beer at home without breaking any laws. That's how it should be with weed. Make it illegal for kids (except for medical use) and let adults do whatever they want.

This still sounds like an improvement over the current law. One more state legalizing is one more step towards ending the federal prohibition laws.

Does this proposal let people make their own hash? An ounce of hash will last a lot longer than an ounce of bud.

 

[DinosaurCocks]

i think the limits are because at this point we have too ease into it to appease the undecideds, if we were just like yay pot's legal fill your basement with hash! they would lose a lot of the flip floppers, and those dudes are the key to getting it legal.

that plus pot isn't legal everywhere, so right now the dude with a basement full of legal pot is probably shipping it everywhere else illegally, it would probably be bad for our image if a state like Colorado were just letting people grow hundreds of pounds and dissapearing it with no explanation, weed busts coming from Colorado would be all over the news in surrounding states which would probably also be not so great for swaying undecideds.

i think for now we have to realize that they are still the voting majority for the most part and we need to show them we can be responsible and safe about it, so they will let us do something we should never have been told we can't. once more states have legalized it next year it will take a leap toward mainstream, eventually the science will catch up and everyone will be privy to the true facts and people will start to make the laws more sensible...something tells me when alcohol was first re-legalized there where a lot of places with pretty backward laws, that eventually eased up, as they are to this day...we still have dry counties in places like Texas and my home state rumbles about making sunday liquor sales legal again every year, though they never do...

 

[Jhhnn]

I appreciate seeing "failed policy" being changed, but I don't like what politicians do to it.
If you're allowed to grow 6 plants,, you should harvest enough to hold yourself and your wife and maybe even a few friends over 'til harvest next year... So what about the pound or 2 (or 3 or 4) that you got from your 6 plants and you sealed it up in jars 'til next harvest? If you have that stashed in your closet and leo finds it, will you be breaking the possesion law? Instead of making new laws to make pot legal, why can't they just scratch off the old laws that made it illegal in the first place?
Just my 2 cents..

Dunno about anywhere else, but that's not true in Colorado. There is no limit to how much you can grow or keep from your quota of plants if it never leaves the premises in amounts over 1 oz. The only time you might get busted, I figure, is if you had to move & got popped in the process. That would truly suck.

 

[rives]

I thought that Alaska had made pot legal in small quantities years (like decades) ago. Is that wrong, or did they change it back in the interim?

 

[Jhhnn]

I thought that Alaska had made pot legal in small quantities years (like decades) ago. Is that wrong, or did they change it back in the interim?

Kinda-sorta, but not really-

http://norml.org/laws/item/alaska-penalties

Dunno the history of how they got there.

 

[Hydrosun]

I thought that Alaska had made pot legal in small quantities years (like decades) ago. Is that wrong, or did they change it back in the interim?

Yes, AK supreme court ruled that in home possession of cannabis up to four ounces is covered by the privacy guarantee of the AK constitution.

Since 4oz is already a privacy issue in ones homes, the 1oz limit must be for public possession.

 

[Jhhnn]

Yes, AK supreme court ruled that in home possession of cannabis up to four ounces is covered by the privacy guarantee of the AK constitution.

Since 4oz is already a privacy issue in ones homes, the 1oz limit must be for public possession.

Even that is screwy. You can have 25 plants in your home, but only 4 oz of marijuana. Quite how that makes sense, I have no idea.

 

[Hydrosun]

Even that is screwy. You can have 25 plants in your home, but only 4 oz of marijuana. Quite how that makes sense, I have no idea.

It works out because THEY aren't supposed to be in your house in the first place! THEY have to make up fantasy logic for any RESTRICTIONS on your natural rights. What is even sadder is the good guys have to make up fantasy logic for RESTRICTIONS on your natural rights, else they might not get any recognition of your rights.

This is a very real problem in this community where I scream out total freedom, and many brighter ICmager's remind me that we still have to deal with THEM so baby steps are the real path.

 

[tamorin]

Alaska I thought had decriminalized already back in the 70's did they change that back?

 

[Jhhnn]

Alaska I thought had decriminalized already back in the 70's did they change that back?

Meh. Decrim is a scam of sorts, dependent upon marijuana magically appearing out of nowhere. In that scenario, its origins & route to the end user are still illegal, with growers & intermediaries still getting busted for amounts large & small. It's still the black market & all that entails. It would be different if decrim meant that there were no legal penalties associated with cannabis, but that's not what it means. Decrim is just a half-assed way of denying legitimacy. It just quells the voices speaking the truth, that cannabis ought to be legal, respectable, & inexpensive, like beer or cigarettes.

 

[eventualist]

I'm happy to hear Alaska going for it! again! Maybe the next largest US state will follow. Right now, not so much. Perry's response: If you don't like it move. Sucks.

Reality:

- These rec legal states are shipping the chit out of it. Don't fool yourself they aren't.
- These states are leading the cause, and maybe, just maybe, 2016 will bring a new attitude. Don't hold your breath.
- If Obama had the opp to "de-schedule it" nation wide, wtf is he waiting on?

Rock it AK!

 

[stoned40yrs]

I've lived in Alaska for 50 years. It's been legal to to have less than 25 plants and 1/4 lb in your home for 39 years now. It's a protected right in the Alaska Constitution and all legal challanges have failed to over turn it. Yes the vast majority of users don't grow so they have to break laws to get it into their home where it then is safe. It's always been illegal to posess it outside of your home. Federal law trumps state laws but the Feds NEVER messed with Alaskans posessing a QP and less than 25 plants. The State would procecute people with more than 24 plants and over a QP and the Feds would usually jump in and take over the cases with over 100 plants and a chance they could take houses, vehicles and other goodies for themselves.
So now some people want to change the laws with this new initiative up for vote from 24 plants and one QP down to 6 plants and one OZ. FUK THAT! As far as I'm concerned the same MFers who have been trying to make it illegal in our homes are behind this attempt to lower how much we can have.