A bill looking to clarify Alaska’s criminal marijuana laws appeared to only stupefy legislators and supporters of the measure Monday by making the state’s already complicated marijuana laws even more confusing.
In a joint meeting of the House and Senate judiciary committees Monday, Alaska legislators asked questions of the drafters of Senate Bill 30, which looks to update laws related to criminal enforcement of marijuana. While certain points of the bill appear relatively straightforward — clarifying the definition of marijuana, making it illegal to have open marijuana containers in a vehicle — a section dealing with the heart of the law updating criminal statutes related to personal possession and manufacture drew serious concern.
Supporters of the ballot initiative agreed. In a statement outlining their concerns, initiative co-sponsor Tim Hinterberger wrote that SB 30 would “eviscerate” the intent of the initiative.
“This is a lesser protection than what the voters have mandated, and the state has previously used this tactic to thwart the will of the voters in the case of medical marijuana, which passed by citizen initiative in 1998,” he said in a statement Friday. “We are not suggesting that is the intent of this bill, but it is an issue proponents are particularly sensitive to given the history of marijuana policy in Alaska.”
Legislators on both sides of the aisle also appeared concerned with the defense provisions violating the will of voters. Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, noted that Hilary Martin, counsel with the Legislature’s legal services department who helped draft the bill, would get “two auditions” on the bill, and said that the committee would be “looking forward” to another draft of the proposed law, though it was unclear Monday what that might look like.
In an interview Friday, McGuire acknowledged concerns over the defense provisions. She said she “wrestled” with the idea, but ultimately settled with the defense language in the bill after conferring with legislative legal counsel. She said the counsel’s office told her that based on the way Alaska state statutes are written, the “defense to prosecution” approach was the “most comfortable” way of dealing with decriminalization.
The bill is one of three involving marijuana the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to introduce this session. The second will deal with creating a marijuana control board housed within the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which is currently tasked with developing marijuana regulations. The third bill will be an omnibus bill dealing with everything else — including advertising, zoning and other regulatory issues.
McGuire said the criminal aspects needed to be dealt with first, since the personal possession portion of the law goes in to effect Feb. 24. Hearings on SB 30 will continue through the week, with another meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
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