ALASKA: GOVERNOR'S BID TO CHALLENGE STATE'S LONG-STANDING POT POLICIES STALLS

By NORML

February 2, 2006 - Juneau, AK, USA

House representatives voted this week to reject Senate provisions
that sought to overturn a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling (Ravin v.
State) upholding the right of citizens to possess up to four ounces
of marijuana in the privacy of their homes.

The Senate had approved the provisions, which would make the
possession of less than four ounces of marijuana a misdemeanor and
the possession of greater amounts a felony, as amendments to House
Bill 149, which primarily addresses the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

However, last night the House voted 23 to 15 to send the bill back to
the Senate, ordering them to withdraw the changes. If the Senate
refuses to do so, a conference committee of representatives and
senators will try to reach a compromise that both chambers can agree on.

A similar, 2005 stand-alone version of the marijuana bill failed to
garner a vote in either chamber.

NORML's Legal Counsel Keith Stroup praised the House for voting down
the Senate's anti-marijuana provisions. "These provisions, introduced
at the behest of the Governor, had not been properly debated by House
lawmakers," he said. "The Senate's attempt to merge these provisions
with a popular anti-methamphetamine bill that had been previously
approved by the House was a cynical attempt to try and recriminalize
cannabis without engaging in any substantive legislative debate."

If the conference committee approves the proposed marijuana
penalties, it will likely force the Court to revisit its 1975 ruling.

If that happens, the Court will likely rebuff the legislature, Stroup
predicts. "The right to privacy is more important to the Court and
to most Alaskans than the Governor's ill-advised war on marijuana
smokers," he said.

In 2004, the Alaska Supreme Court rejected a petition by the state
attorney general's office to reconsider a September 2003 Court of
Appeals ruling finding that the possession of marijuana by adults
within the home is constitutionally protected activity.

For more information about NORML, see http://www.norml.org