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Locals to Enforce New Marijuana Law
Andrew Petty | Juneau Empire | 05/28/06

Alaska -- As Gov. Frank Murkowski gets closer to signing a bill aimed at criminalizing small amounts of marijuana possession, Alaskans are wondering what may happen next.

Bill Parker, lobbyist for Alaskans for Marijuana Regulation and Control, said he doubts people will smoke less pot, though some fear may be present. "It puts this shadow of home invasion over everybody," Parker said.

Alaska already has laws that make possession of marijuana illegal, but courts have not recognized those laws since a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court case ruled that pot was not dangerous if a person only possessed a small amount in his or her home.

Also, under a right-to-privacy clause in the Alaska Constitution, the court said it would not be right for police to enter one's home to look for small amounts of marijuana. The Alaska Legislature later limited the amount of personal use to four ounces.

House Bill 149 resets the penalties by making possession of less than an ounce a Class B misdemeanor, up to four ounces a Class A misdemeanor and more than four ounces a Class C felony.

John Manly, spokesman for the governor, said he did not know exactly when the governor would sign the bill into law, but it has a deadline of June 9.

Recognizing that fear is spreading among those who own small amounts of marijuana and that local police forces may be confused about the new bill, Chief Assistant Attorney General Dean Guaneli said nothing will change anytime soon.

"We have advised state troopers and advised local police that the bill does not do anything as of this moment that would justify them changing their enforcement policies about small amounts of marijuana in the home," he said.

The Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has been fighting the bill ever since it was introduced in 2005. Director Michael Macleod-Ball said the ACLU's position is less about marijuana and more on the constitutional right to privacy.

"When does the state have the right to come into your home without your consent?" he said.

The ACLU has already written a complaint it plans to file with a Juneau court after the bill is signed to seek a temporary restraining order and a temporary injunction asking the court to order the state not to enforce the law as it is drafted, Macleod-Ball said.

That court case could be the battle the state will use to present findings included in the bill in arguments to overturn previous court rulings, Guaneli said. The state is also considering using current arrests for trafficking pot to pry the case open, he added.

Testimony taken during legislative hearings was summarized and written into the bill so that judges will consider the findings when reviewing the case. The bill explains marijuana is more potent today than in 1975 and poses a threat to children buying the substance from adults.

If the Alaska Supreme Court upholds the new law, those with pot used for personal consumption would not see their homes invaded; the state wants to use the bill to take down commercial growers, Guaneli said.

"With meth labs, with commercial marijuana cultivation, cocaine, all the rest, police simply don't have time to be focusing on somebody's possession of a small amount of marijuana," he said.

Without making marijuana illegal, law enforcement would not be able to get search warrants to bust commercial growers, Guaneli said. Growing operations in the state are becoming lucrative, he said.

"The troopers used to say if we wanted to we could bust one marijuana-growing operation a day in the Mat-Su Valley. There's just that much going on," Guaneli said.

Concerning busting people with only small bags of weed, Guaneli said it would be up to local police departments to determine how aggressively they should enforce the law.

The Juneau Police Department did not respond to requests for an interview on Friday.

Macleod-Ball said most people agree commercial exploitation of marijuana is harmful to society. If the state truly intends to nab more growers, the bill should include penalties that are tougher on selling dope, he said.

"The only thing this bill did is regulate small amounts of marijuana possessed in the home for personal use," he said.

According to Bruce Mirken with the Marijuana Policy Project, a Gallup poll last fall that questioned Americans nationwide said 56 percent believed marijuana should not be a criminal matter.

About 772,000 people were arrested for marijuana crimes in 2004, with 88 percent of those for simple possession, Mirken said.

"It may vary in terms of how it is in Alaska, as it does in lots of places, with the attitudes of the local police departments," Mirken said.

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