POT BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL, ALASKAN COURT RULES

Juneau, Alaska

A law banning Alaskans from possessing any amount of marijuana in
their homes has been ruled unconstitutional by a state appeals court
Friday.

Friday's decision by the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed the 2001
drug conviction of a North Pole man and ordered a new trial.

The ruling affirms a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision that found it
legal to possess less than 113 grams of marijuana in one's home. That
ruling found the state constitution's strong privacy law superseded
legislative attempts to ban marijuana.

Alaska voters approved a law in 1990 that criminalized the possession
of any amount of drug in any location. That law had gone unchallenged
until David Noy appealed his conviction on a count of sixth-degree
misconduct involving a controlled substance. A search of Noy's home
turned up five live pot plants, growing equipment and other
paraphernalia.