this is my town!

[dirtydingusus]

Daily Bulletin

MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION GROUP BRINGS EFFORT TO JUNEAU

by Timothy Inklebarger,

Alaska

An office space that has sprouted up in downtown Juneau is the new headquarters of a group aiming to legalize marijuana through a statewide ballot initiative.

In a storefront space at 217 Seward, a sign on the door quotes former Gov. Jay Hammond: "It's hypocritical to punish users of marijuana while legally sanctioning the use of alcohol." A freshly painted mural of marijuana leaves emblazons the front window.

Inside the space a wall is being constructed to separate the back office from a reception area up front, while petitioners mill around organizing campaign material.

The group Free Hemp in Alaska is giving its legalization initiative a second run after a similar one failed in the 2000 general election.

Al Anders, the treasurer for the group and Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor, said the office space has been paid for by a Juneau donor, but he hopes the campaign ultimately will raise enough money to pay the cost itself. A lack of money hurt the group's effort in the 2000 initiative, Anders said.

The 2000 initiative would have made consumption of marijuana legal for adults 18 and over, and granted amnesty and paid restitution to those convicted of crimes involving the drug.

The new initiative would eliminate civil and criminal penalties for growing, using or selling marijuana, and would allow for laws limiting marijuana use in public.

Free Hemp in Alaska organizer Evan Pederson, 22, said the message the group got from voters in the last election was "tone it down." He said the provisions granting amnesty and restitution made a lot of people vote against the measure even though they support legalization.

"By taking those provisions out it will win a lot of people who were on the fence," Pederson said.

That initiative failed statewide, with 59 percent voting against it and 41 percent voting for it. In Juneau, 53 percent voted no and 47 percent voted yes.

Free Hemp in Alaska has until Nov. 19 to collect the 28,782 signatures needed to be certified for the 2004 primary election. Pederson said petitioners are going door-to-door and stationing themselves in front of local businesses to collect signatures.

A similar effort is under way in Anchorage, where the group's headquarters is located.

Pederson said petitioners have collected over half of the signatures needed to make it onto the November ballot. He said the Juneau group has 15 paid petitioners on staff and about 10 volunteers. Anders said petitioners are paid 50 cents a signature.

Once the signatures are collected and the petition is certified, Pederson said, the group will begin a public relations campaign that will run until the August 2004 election.

Wev Shea, an Anchorage attorney who fought the legalization effort in 2000, said he plans to do so again.

"I can't wait," Shea said.

Shea served as U.S. attorney in Alaska from 1990 to 1993, noting that his key focus was prosecuting drug cases.

Regardless of whether the initiative passes, Shea said, federal law will take priority over state law. Passage of the measure, however, would prevent federal authorities from using state personnel or resources to enforce the law.

Prior to 1990, Alaska permitted adults 18 and over to possess under four ounces of marijuana in a home or other private place. A ballot initiative made it illegal, with 54 percent voting in favor of the law.

Shea was not aware of any opposition group working to block the initiative, but he added that if the hemp group's petition is certified he would be involved in any group that opposes it.



god i love living in juneau

this is from my local paper

and you know my name is on that
pition!

[dirtydingusus]

somebody read this shit!

[bud stuffer]

sounds good to me, makes me want to move to alaska. beutiful scenery, lots of good pot, and a shot at legality(word?). hope it works out, you'll be rollin in the good stuff, probably already are

[dirtydingusus]

yea brother nothing but the killer from BC here!

[bud stuffer]

i hope to visit your area someday, i have always wanted to, but with legalization (hopefuly) there is alittle extra incentive

[dirtydingusus]

yeah man this place is so worth the visit

if you like outdoors


there is nothing to do indoors


but more mountains than you could climb

and fishing and hunting here are awesome!

let me know if you ever make it here

ill help you out with the buds

and if ya dig bears....we gots plenty

[bud stuffer]

awsome, i love the outdoors, i pretty much grew up outdoors, my house was solor powered and on a 60 acre plot of woods, my pops still lives there, and has downgraded to candles and cooking over a fire. i have only seen one bear, it was in yellowstone and was a very small black bear being chased by tourists, poor thing. not much of a hunter, but love to fish and have heard great tales of the salmon fishing up there.

[dirtydingusus]

that pic is a "glacer faze"black bear and cub

and the fishing gets so good you dont need bait!


just real in the hook and you have a fish!

[bud stuffer]

"just real in the hook and you have a fish!"

nice!

did you photograph those bears?

i have heard stories of phenominal amounts of mosquitoes and midges, any truth to that. either way i am still sure it is worth the visit.

[XxJWxX]

Does it ever get real hot and sunny out in Alaska?? Like whats the average high temperature?

[dirtydingusus]

here in southeast alaska we are in a rainforest
tongrass nat.forest

so we doont get to many sunny days

in summer it is light for 18hrs a day

like a brite as noon at 3 am!
and in summer the average temp is about 50
with the occasional 70

in winter it is 18hrs dark

and cold as fuck!lol

but i dig it


there is already snow on top of the moutains


and as for the bear pic it was in the paper a cupple days ago
i have a cupple i took but not as good

there are bear pics in paper everyday when they arent hybornateing

they come into town to get garbage
rip lids off "bearproof dumpsters"

even down town with people walking arround


everyyear someone gets fucked up by a bear or killed!

[bud stuffer]

those are usually grizzlies that rip the shit out of people aren't they. i like the sound of the cool summers, the light might be a little weird though. the winters sound brutal, i guess all there is to do is sit around and chief, which isn't exactly a bad thing.

[dirtydingusus]

yep mostly brown bears (which is what grizzlies are)
do the attacking

and the light takes some geting used to ....

believe me i was up wide awake trying to block out the light at 3 am every morrning for awile


and winter is not so bad ....if you like sleding and snowboarding


and of corse toking the green

[bud stuffer]

yeah that doesn't sound too bad, bet there are some killer slopes.

when do you usually get your first snows down in the bottoms, and how long do they last?

i would have a very hard time with the light, i usually wake up with the sun and can't fall asleep when it is light. at least your at the southern part of the state, it has to be really wild up in the circle. do the northern lights come out every night up there? twice i have seen them in southern illinois, a very rare occurance. they were awsome, but i am sure absolutly nothing even close to what you see.

[dirtydingusus]

yeah we see the lights most every night it is clear


especialy this time of year


snow will be down here this mounth most likely