Alaska Will Vote On Marijuana Legalization

(The image above is from Cannabis Culture Magazine.)

I posted recently about the effort to get a marijuana legalization proposition on the 2014 ballot in California. Proponents are currently trying to get enough signatures to force that to happen. But it looks like Alaska may beat them to the punch, and become the next state to legalize the gentle herb in an August 2014 election. They already have more than enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

A "Campaign To Regulate Marijuana" representative says they have already collected 44,845 signatures. They only needed to get 31,169 to get the matter on the ballot. That means they have over 15,000 signatures more than they needed -- giving them a substantial bit of padding when those signatures are examined for validity. They hope to get 45,000 signatures before submitting their petition, and they probably will. KTUU in Anchorage reports:

The legalization effort proposes far more than simply flipping the switch on marijuana from illegal to legal: the petition includes a seven-page, near-complete package of legislation that lays out a suite of comprehensive new laws that would regulate the growing, processing, selling, and use of the drug in Alaska.

In addition to creating licensing and oversight for the cultivation and sale of the drug, the petition also suggests a tax of $50 per ounce at the retail level. . .

The Alaska petition also allows communities to forbid the sale of marijuana locally, a “local option” akin to towns forbidding the sale of alcohol.

The legal framework offered by the petition could be tweaked by legislators down the road, but first, petitioners looking to legalize marijuana will have to submit their signatures booklets for state approval by Jan. 21. If the 30,000 signatures are authenticated, the initiative will go before voters on the August 2014 ballot.