DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA ADDS TO . . .ALASKA'S WOES

State Attorney General Gregg Renkes should quickly appeal a state
appellate court ruling that can only worsen Alaska's already
monumental and growing substance abuse problems.

The state Appeals Court has unanimously reversed the 2001 conviction
of David S. Noy, a North Pole man who was found with five marijuana
plants in his home. In accepting Noy's argument that a privacy
provision in the Alaska Constitution allows possession of marijuana,
the appellate panel tossed cold water on a 1990 initiative that made
pot possession, in any amount, illegal. The court found that Alaska
citizens have a right to possess up to 4 ounces of marijuana in their
homes for personal use.

That unfortunate ruling may have long-lasting and severe consequences
at the state level. Marijuana possession remains illegal under federal
law.

"It is regrettable that the Court of Appeals has, in essence rejected
the will of the people of Alaska who recriminalized the use of
marijuana . . . ," Gov. Frank Murkowski said after the decision.

The governor said substance abuse is having a devastating effect on
the state and its rural society, and he is right, especially when it
comes to our young.

In recent times, there have been well-financed efforts from Outside to
legalize the possession and use of marijuana here, sometimes using
medical reasons as the springboard to legitimacy and in other
instances wrapping its use in a civil rights banner. The majority of
Alaska's voters generally have turned their backs.

Marijuana is a substance that can alter human perception and behavior.
It is a substance that can be abused, and in some instances and in
certain situations it can be dangerous.

Alaskans already went to the polls to recriminalize marijuana.
Alaskans already went to the polls to reject its use in a more recent
hemp initiative. Why would they want to add yet another substance to
the list of legal mind-busters that already are destroying vast
segments of our society?

Alaska is awash in alcohol problems that cost the state tens of
millions of dollars and wreak immeasurable amounts of damage in human
terms - from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to traffic fatalities to assaults
to domestic violence.

The state Appeals Court ruling legalizing small amounts of marijuana
will fix none of that. In fact, it will make the state's problems worse.

If the state constitution's privacy provision can be construed to make
marijuana possession legal, and the state Supreme Court agrees, then
it is time to consider an amendment.

After all, why would Alaskans want to add to their ever-growing list
of substance abuse woes?