Alaska Voters Legalize Recreational Marijuana

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska voters have narrowly approved the recreational use of marijuana, joining three other states and the nation’s capital in legalizing the drug.

Ballot Measure 2 passed by less than a 5 percent margin, results tallied Wednesday showed.

Washington and Colorado already have regulation and taxation systems for recreational pot, while Oregon residents voted Tuesday to legalize commercial sales of the drug.

In Washington, D.C., voters on Tuesday approved the possession of up to 2 ounces of pot and up to three mature marijuana plants for personal use. The proposal did not provide for the legal sale of marijuana. It instead leaves that matter to the D.C. Council.

A national pro-pot group, the Marijuana Policy Project, was the major contributor behind Alaska’s initiative, and its spending dwarfed that of the opposition.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the group behind the initiative, argued marijuana prohibition has been “as ineffective, wasteful and problematic as alcohol prohibition.”

Initiative supporters said legalization would allow law enforcement to focus on more serious drugs like heroin. They also said it would bring in new tax revenue.

But opponents worried about the impact on children from the mass marketing of pot, especially edible products.

The initiative will allow for possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana and up to six plants — three flowering — for those who are at least 21. However, smoking in public would not be permitted.

The initiative also would set out an excise tax on the sale or transfer of marijuana from a marijuana cultivation facility to a retail marijuana store or marijuana product manufacturing facility.

It calls for regulations to be in place to implement the law within nine months of the law taking effect. It also allows for a say by local governments, including local bans on cultivation facilities and retail stores.

Supporters tried to write the measure in a way that it would be as palatable as possible following the 2004 defeat of a legalization measure.

In a statement, Vote No on 2 campaign spokeswoman Kristina Woolston said the campaign was “humbled and honored” by the turnout.

“We are proud of our grassroots campaign, and we look forward to a meaningful discussion of an Alaska-based approach to how this drug should be viewed legally and how to protect our communities and our kids from the commercialization of this substance,” she said.

Pot already is legal in small quantities in users’ homes under a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling on privacy rights.

Gayle Boyer of Anchorage struggled with her decision on the marijuana measure. Though she doesn’t like laws that imprison people for smoking pot, she had too many unanswered questions from the aftermath of the laws passed in Colorado and Washington state.

“I think we need to let them be the guinea pigs, and let them figure it out a little bit more,” she said Tuesday outside her midtown polling place.

Another voter, Scott Jenks, cast his ballot in favor of the proposal.

“It’s pretty much legal here anyway,” Jenks said. “It’s just a waste of cop time and court time, and it’s pretty much harmless, as far as I’m concerned.”

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