Alaska officials looking at pot recrim Thanks to a 1975 state court ruling, possessing small amounts (less than four ounces) of marijuana in Alaska has been more or less decriminalized in private homes.
Now state prosecutors want to go back to a system of total criminalization, and they are willing to work the state's courts to do so. Today's Anchorage Daily News has a story about the somewhat confusing situation.
Prosecutors thought they no longer had to abide by the 1975 decision because of a 1990 voter initiative designed to recriminalize marijuana, but recently state judges said the 1975 decision supercedes the 1990 initiative.
Perplexed? That seems to be the goal here, but the people of Alaska probably won't be if the government does what it says it will do:
In an action supported by Gov. Frank Murkowski, the Anchorage district attorney has asked a judge to re-examine the 1975 Ravin v. state conclusion that marijuana in small amounts is essentially harmless to adults and not dangerous enough to override Alaska's constitutional right to privacy at home.
"The idea that marijuana is a harmless substance is contrary to all the scientific studies that exist today," said John Novak, chief assistant district attorney and one of the prosecutors who filed a motion Tuesday in Anchorage Superior Court.
If the state gets its wish, Novak envisions a full-blown hearing about the nature and effects of current marijuana use featuring experts on both sides.
If experts from both sides are allowed an equal hearing, most people will know who's telling the truth, and that's never the prohibitionists.
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