ALASKA COURT: DRUG BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL

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 four ounces of marijuana in one's home.
That ruling found that 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superseded legislative attempts to ban marijuana.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
had turned up five live pot plants, growing equipment and other
paraphernalia.

Attorney General Gregg Renkes has said he will petition the state
Supreme Court for a review. Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski called the
court's ruling "regrettable."