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If Alaska's voters say "yes" to the legalization of marijuana on Nov. 4, communities would still have the right to ban pot shops. But, like the state's administration decided last week, the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly won't plan how to react to the initiative until it passes – if it passes, Mayor Merrill Sanford said. Through the initiative, cities would not be able to ban the use of marijuana, but they could ban marijuana dispensaries.
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens and what goes on after that," he said. "At the staff level we haven't discussed it, and from the Assembly's viewpoint we haven't had any talking about it that I know of." City attorney Amy Mead has been considering it. If the ballot measure passes, the implications are huge for city government, she said. "This is a big, big issue that is going to require a lot of careful consideration," she said.
"So many aspects of what we do as a city" would have to be reconsidered if marijuana is legalized in the state, Mead said, including "employment law, how (marijuana) businesses are run, how they're going to be regulated, would smoking marijuana be allowed in a bar?" she listed. "If not, is it not allowed because of our smoking ordinance or for a different reason?"
As far as employment law, there is a question of whether smoking marijuana would be regulated like alcohol, she said. "You can't drink on the job, so I'm assuming it would be the same type of thing," Mead said. "It's stuff that we'd have to walk through carefully. It would need to be regulated the same way alcohol is regulated." Although it's not known how marijuana would be regulated by the state, the branch responsible for the regulation would be the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Cori Mills of the Alaska Department of Law said it's up to the board to decide the ways in which it will regulate marijuana. It's not clear if the board will do that in the way it does alcohol: allowing communities to vote on the way it is sold and used.
Through Alaska's Local Option Law, communities – both incorporated cities and boroughs and unincorporated villages – are able to hold what are called local option elections to decide to what extent they want alcohol sold and possessed within their limits. Communities that have limited and banned alcohol are commonly referred to "damp" and "dry" communities. If a community wishes to vote to restrict alcohol, they can do so at five different levels: prohibiting sale; prohibiting sale except at specified, permitted locations; prohibiting sale except through the municipality; prohibiting sale and importation; and prohibiting sale, importation and possession.
Mills said although the ABC board will take the lead on marijuana regulation, it won't be able to apply the laws it uses to regulate alcohol. It will have to create an entirely new "regulatory scheme that would govern how things are done," she said. That "might" include something like the Local Option Law, but it might not. "Although regulation would be done by the same entity, how that's going to be worked out would still be separate," she said. "It would be a new area."
That won't become clear unless marijuana is legalized, she said. "Because we're still just in the initiative phase there are a lot of questions still out there," Mills said. If the initiative passes, "all the aspects city business touches upon" would have to be thought through in the context of legalized marijuana, Mead said. It wouldn't be as easy as pot shops springing up overnight. Luckily, she said, she can look to cities in states that have legalized marijuana – Washington and Colorado – for guidance. "There's a lot that I would need to think through if this passed. I feel like I would have a lot to do," she said with a laugh. "When I say it's huge issue, I mean it's a huge issue."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Juneauempire.com
Author: Katie Moritz
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Legal pot would pose challenge for city | Juneau Empire - Alaska's Capital City Online Newspaper
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens and what goes on after that," he said. "At the staff level we haven't discussed it, and from the Assembly's viewpoint we haven't had any talking about it that I know of." City attorney Amy Mead has been considering it. If the ballot measure passes, the implications are huge for city government, she said. "This is a big, big issue that is going to require a lot of careful consideration," she said.
"So many aspects of what we do as a city" would have to be reconsidered if marijuana is legalized in the state, Mead said, including "employment law, how (marijuana) businesses are run, how they're going to be regulated, would smoking marijuana be allowed in a bar?" she listed. "If not, is it not allowed because of our smoking ordinance or for a different reason?"
As far as employment law, there is a question of whether smoking marijuana would be regulated like alcohol, she said. "You can't drink on the job, so I'm assuming it would be the same type of thing," Mead said. "It's stuff that we'd have to walk through carefully. It would need to be regulated the same way alcohol is regulated." Although it's not known how marijuana would be regulated by the state, the branch responsible for the regulation would be the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Cori Mills of the Alaska Department of Law said it's up to the board to decide the ways in which it will regulate marijuana. It's not clear if the board will do that in the way it does alcohol: allowing communities to vote on the way it is sold and used.
Through Alaska's Local Option Law, communities – both incorporated cities and boroughs and unincorporated villages – are able to hold what are called local option elections to decide to what extent they want alcohol sold and possessed within their limits. Communities that have limited and banned alcohol are commonly referred to "damp" and "dry" communities. If a community wishes to vote to restrict alcohol, they can do so at five different levels: prohibiting sale; prohibiting sale except at specified, permitted locations; prohibiting sale except through the municipality; prohibiting sale and importation; and prohibiting sale, importation and possession.
Mills said although the ABC board will take the lead on marijuana regulation, it won't be able to apply the laws it uses to regulate alcohol. It will have to create an entirely new "regulatory scheme that would govern how things are done," she said. That "might" include something like the Local Option Law, but it might not. "Although regulation would be done by the same entity, how that's going to be worked out would still be separate," she said. "It would be a new area."
That won't become clear unless marijuana is legalized, she said. "Because we're still just in the initiative phase there are a lot of questions still out there," Mills said. If the initiative passes, "all the aspects city business touches upon" would have to be thought through in the context of legalized marijuana, Mead said. It wouldn't be as easy as pot shops springing up overnight. Luckily, she said, she can look to cities in states that have legalized marijuana – Washington and Colorado – for guidance. "There's a lot that I would need to think through if this passed. I feel like I would have a lot to do," she said with a laugh. "When I say it's huge issue, I mean it's a huge issue."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Juneauempire.com
Author: Katie Moritz
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Legal pot would pose challenge for city | Juneau Empire - Alaska's Capital City Online Newspaper
