METH-MARIJUANA BILL BECOMES LAW

Possessing small amounts of marijuana, even in the privacy of the
home, is illegal in Alaska - at least for now.

Gov. Frank Murkowski on Friday signed a bill recriminalizing pot
possession. The law will be challenged in court, according to the
American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, leading to a likely
judicial review of Alaska's marijuana laws.

Another provision of the bill, which is not in dispute, would make it
tougher to buy ingredients used in making methamphetamine.

In a press release, Murkowski said the state's current marijuana laws
send the wrong message to Alaska's youth.

"We believe House Bill 149 will allow the state to successfully
defend the outlawing of today's stronger and more dangerous marijuana
in the courts."

The governor is seeking to overturn the 30-year-old landmark Alaska
Supreme Court decision that legalized the use of small amounts of marijuana.

While the court then ruled that the right to privacy was far more
important than any harm that could result from use of the drug,
Murkowski argues marijuana is a far more potent and dangerous drug
than it was in the 1970s.

The ACLU of Alaska said it would file for immediate injunctive relief
in Superior Court in Juneau on Monday.

Executive director Michael MacLeod-Ball said the lawsuit also would
seek a permanent injunction against the marijuana provisions of the
law which he said run afoul of Alaskans' constitutional rights to privacy.

Under the new law, pot possession of 4 ounces or more is a felony.
Possession of less than 4 ounces but more than an ounce is a
misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. Less than one ounce
is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

The measure was controversial in the Legislature among privacy
advocates. It also became bound up in a procedural dispute between
the House and Senate until it passed in the final days of the regular
legislative session.

The methamphetamine provisions of the law restrict the sale of many
over-the-counter medicines that are used in making the drug.

The law requires a customer to sign a logbook before buying a
medicine with an ephedrine base, such as Sudafed, and makes it
illegal to sell those ephedrine-based drugs to anyone under the age of 16.