IF THE VOTERS PLANT IT, WILL IT GROW?

Pot advocates are back with an initiative to legalize dope in Alaska,
and it's not as half-baked as it was four years ago.

Had he been invited to a recent kickoff party for the Proposition 2
initiative to legalize marijuana, even Wev Shea - former U.S.
Attorney for Alaska and notorious anti drug-crusader - wouldn't have
felt too out of place. Sure, there were the usual suspects - some
dread-locked bongo drummers, the occasional tie-dye-clad college
student, a girl wearing a pot garland and a spacey smile - the dopers,
as Shea is fond of calling them.

But probing deeper into the crowd, as well as inside the circles
behind the Say Yes on 2 campaign to legalize pot, Shea would have seen
many people of his ilk: Ken Jacobus, former lawyer of the Alaska
Republican Party; Ray Metcalfe, founder of the Alaska Republican
Moderate Party; Dr. Tim Hinterberger, an associate professor at the
University of Alaska Anchorage's biomedical program; Bill Parker,
former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections; as well
as more than a few motherly types who actually looked like motherly
types.

When Parker gave a speech, he said, "I don't even recognize myself."
Everyone laughed.

This "dream team" of pot advocates, as some have called it, is a far
cry from the people who promoted a similar initiative on the 2000
ballot, a radical proposal that called for massive reforms, including
granting amnesty and possible restitution to those serving time for
pot crimes.

That initiative didn't pass, but neither did it fail miserably.
Forty-one percent of the voters approved it.

Some who voted against it said they want pot legal but didn't think
convicted dealers should be freed from jail. Others said they didn't
vote in favor of the 2000 initiative because it would have allowed
anybody above the age of 18 to smoke dope, rather than making the
legal age 21.

Now, four years wiser, the pot advocates are back. They look better
than they did in 2000, and they have done away with words like
"amnesty" and "restitution." They've also set the age limit at 21. But
the objective is the same. Voters will be asked to approve the legal
sale, consumption and possession of marijuana in Alaska. The idea,
supporters say, is to allow the regulation of marijuana, just like the
government regulates tobacco and alcohol.

It's impossible to tell where Proposition 2 stands with voters. As of
Tuesday, September 28, there hadn't been an official poll done on it.
Critics like Wev Shea have been slow to respond to the initiative;
although he said he recently spoke to officials at the national drug
czar's office, and they are "on it." The White House has been known to
come in during the last two weeks of state pot legalization campaigns
and swarm the airwaves with anti-drug commercials.

But organizers of the Yes on 2 campaign say they're ready for the
fight. They claim to have some big financing behind them, including
from the Marijuana Policy Project, a national pro-pot group, which has
paid for slick TV commercials that talk about legalizing and
regulating pot. They've also got that dream team, some of whom are
advocating the cause on radio talk shows, saying that prohibition has
only made it easier for kids to get marijuana. The pot advocates are
talking about the government taxing marijuana sales. They say this
could free up police to respond to more pressing issues, like
Anchorage's high rate of sexual assault. As it is now, marijuana
arrests account for two-thirds of all drug arrests in Alaska,
according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.

But what the Yes on 2 campaign doesn't have yet are answers to some
niggling questions. If the initiative passes, Alaska will become the
only state where it's legal to smoke, buy and sell pot. How would it
work? How would the state regulate marijuana? How would the
Republican-dominated Legislature react?

And perhaps the biggest question, how would the federal government
respond?

In 2000, Alaska Libertarian Al Anders dusted off a 1993 pot initiative
that had never made it on the ballot, got the required signatures, and
ran around the state gathering support. His people were everywhere: on
downtown street corners, in the Dimond Mall parking lot, outside
Moose's Tooth. From the way they were dressed and their general
comportment, it didn't take a second look to figure out what they were
fighting for.

Not only did Anders' crew look like pot heads, most were pot heads.
The sweet smell of Mary Jane permeated the campaign headquarters in
Spenard, and getting baked was almost a prerequisite at their rallies.

To make matters worse, Anders, a usually astute man, was saying things
in debates like, "People drive better stoned than sober," and "Let's
end the war and bring the POWs home."

"It was a mess," said Linda Ronan, a coordinator who joined the Yes on
2 campaign on the condition that it wouldn't be run like it was in
2000. "We've taken great pains to make sure that it's not like that
this time."

Not only did the 2000 initiative fail, but it also turned pot into a
counter-culture debate, which made some in the national marijuana
movement shudder. They want average Americans to think pot smokers are
like anybody, just regular, law-abiding citizens. Which is why Keith
Stroup, director of the National Organization of Reform of Marijuana
Laws (NORML), flew to Alaska during the 2000 campaign and tried to
convince Anders and his group to drop the initiative. Frustrated by
what he saw, Stroup threw up his hands and left.

Four years later, the campaign has a more respectable face. The
initiative itself is also different. They've gotten rid of the amnesty
clause and they've raised the legal age to 21. Here' s how Proposition
2 will read on the November 2 ballot:

This bill would remove civil and criminal penalties under state law
for persons 21 years or older who grow, sell, or give away marijuana
or hemp products. State or local governments could not require a
permit or license for personal cultivation or distribution of
marijuana, but could regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco. It
removes existing state restrictions on prescription of marijuana by
doctors for all patients, including children. It allows for laws
limiting marijuana use in public and to protect public safety.

In Nevada recently, a similar initiative (which won't appear on that
state's ballot because of signature snafus), resembled Proposition 2,
but it was much more detailed and less permissive. The Nevada
initiative would have limited possession to an ounce per person. It
would have directed the Nevada Legislature to establish licensing for
the distribution of pot, including specific punishments for those who
didn't obey the law. And it called for spending money raised from
taxing weed on treatment centers and substance abuse education in schools.

Proposition 2 in Alaska is long on the definition of hemp, but short
on details. The most direct passage in the text states: "Nothing in
this bill prevents the regulation of hemp intoxicating products in a
manner similar to alcohol or tobacco."

David Finkelstein, a Prop. 2 organizer and a former state
representative, defends the initiative. He believes that when
initiatives get too detailed, they become unfair. "People just vote on
concepts anyway," he said. Besides, he said, his four terms in the
Legislature taught him that no matter how detailed the initiative,
lawmakers muck with it anyway.

In the case of Proposition 2, Finkelstein said, lawmakers could water
it down to such a point that it wouldn't look much different than
current pot laws in Alaska.

Alaska has a long, tangled history with weed. One chapter played out
this past month when the Alaska Supreme Court reaffirmed Ravin v.
State - the famous 1975 case that allows Alaskans to legally possess
up to four ounces of dope in their homes.

Attorney General Gregg Renkes was upset that the court chose not to
review the case. He and Governor Frank Murkowski are looking for a
legislative "fix" to close the loophole in letting Alaskans smoke pot
in their homes. But when Renkes is asked what he or the state would do
if voters pass Proposition 2, he says "there will be nothing lawmakers
could do."

"If it's the law, it's the law," Renkes said. "There will be no local
control. It will be a legal mess."

But it's not like Proposition 2 doesn't give the state options. The
initiative says the state may regulate pot, even tax it. It would be
up to lawmakers to decide how the regulation would work.

Regulation is one thing, but Larry Persily, a special assistant at the
Alaska Department of Revenue, says that anybody who thinks Alaska can
tax marijuana is "smoking too much of it."

"Why would anybody file a (tax) return?" Persily asked. "If, perhaps,
marijuana became legal federally, then it would be a potentially huge
source of income. But we've got a president now who won't even support
stem cell research."

Indeed, how could a state tax a drug the federal government has
declared evil?

Marijuana would remain illegal under federal law if voters passed
Proposition 2 because federal law almost always trumps state law when
the two conflict. And by the way, the Ravin decision means nothing to
the feds.

But it might not be the best PR move to arrest someone for breaking a
federal law that's legal under state law. Bill Satterburg is a
Fairbanks lawyer who argued the recent case that affirmed the Ravin
decision. If Proposition 2 passes, he predicts a showdown between the
feds and the state, perhaps not much different than in California
during the late 1990s, when voters legalized pot for medicinal use.

Tim Burgess, U.S. Attorney for Alaska, won't say what he'd do if
Proposition 2 becomes law, but said he does have the power to put his
foot down. Burgess, Renkes and John Novak, state chief assistant
District Attorney, go to great pains to say the government isn't in
the business of busting people for simple possession. The government
is going after dealers, they say.

But numbers from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports belie those statements.
From 1998 to 2002, there were 5,695 marijuana arrests in Alaska. Of
those arrests, only 599 were for selling and growing pot. In other
words, about 90 percent of the arrests were for possession only.

Still, at a time when pot advocates nationwide are making legalization
inroads through the medical marijuana fight, would this kind of battle
be good for the movement?

"You've (Alaska) already got the best marijuana laws in the country,"
said Keith Stroup, of NORML. "Why push it? It's still a crime in 38
states to possess a small amount of marijuana. Why not use some of
that money and energy to change those laws down here?"

But other groups are very supportive and excited. At any given time,
700,000 people are in prison for pot nationwide. An estimated 96
million people say they've tried it at least once. Pro-pot people say
that the country's marijuana policy isn't working. They believe it's
time to try something new. And if Alaska breaks new trail, perhaps
other states will follow with their own laws.

In California, for example, selling and buying marijuana for medical
use is still illegal under federal law. Although the feds have busted
some grow operations, cities across California have passed laws taxing
and regulating pot. And they didn't have any master plan when they
started.

"Given that prohibition has been such a colossal failure, and eighty
percent of kids say they can get marijuana if they want it, why not
give something else a try?" said Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy
Project. "Regulation gives society some control. In tobacco stores,
you see signs that say 'We ID.' You ever see a drug dealer carrying
around those kind of signs?"

At a Yes on 2 organizational meeting in the group's new offices on
Northern Lights Boulevard, about 15 people sat in a circle, watching
Ray Metcalfe read from a commercial script:

"Over thirty-five years ago, I moved to Alaska in search of the new
freedom of the last frontier. A place where people don't tell you how
to live, how to act and what to think. Personally I don't care for
marijuana. But I recognize that if I want to keep on enjoying the
freedoms of the last frontier, it's important for me to stand shoulder
to shoulder with my fellow Alaskans and say no when brother government
will be knocking "E"

Everybody loved Metcalfe's script, especially compared to the current
commercial airing on television, produced by the Marijuana Policy
Project. The current ad, which shows what looks like young adults
smoking pot, seems dark, a little less than uplifting. Metcalfe's ad
would take the issue out of the realm of the pot smoker, tugging on
the heartstrings of the anti-government sentiment that runs far and
deep in Alaska.

After Metcalfe presented his ad, an organizer began a brainstorming
session with the group. Michelle Wilson said she wanted to look at
questions people have about Proposition 2.

How would pot be taxed, regulated, distributed? How would the new
state law conflict with existing federal law?

A few people chimed in, offering possible scenarios. But Wilson wasn't
looking for answers. She just wanted to pose the inevitable questions,
to anticipate how people might react.

The answers will come soon enough. "If this passes," Wilson said,
"then the work will really begin."