BEER, POT SUBJECTS OF INITIATIVES

Ballot: State Must OK Language Before Petitions Circulate.

Juneau -- Marijuana use would be legal and restrictions on beer makers
would be lifted under separate proposed ballot measures filed with the
state Division of Elections.

A measure to do away with civil and criminal penalties for people 21 or
older who use marijuana or hemp products was filed by Anchorage- based Free
Hemp in Alaska.

Before the group can circulate a petition to get the initiative on the
ballot, the state must approve the ballot language.

A similar initiative was rejected in July as being unconstitutional. It
would have required local governments to tax and regulate commercial
production of marijuana if the Legislature failed to do so.

"We wanted to help provide guidance for how municipalities could benefit
from regulating legalized marijuana, but it just proved too difficult,"
said Tom Hinterberger, a sponsor of the initiative.