By Timothy Inklebarger, The Juneau Empire Source: Juneau Empire Registered voters will get a chance to decide next year whether to legalize private use of marijuana for Alaskans 21 and older. Lt. Gov. Loren Leman notified initiative sponsors in late November that the petition has the 28,782 signatures necessary to get the question on the 2004 ballot. Sponsors must collect signatures equal to 10 percent of those who voted in the most recent general election. Since the marijuana initiative was filed prior to the 2002 election, it is based on 10 percent of the voters in the 2000 general election. "We have enough signatures," said initiative sponsor Linda Ronan of Anchorage. "The problem is that it hasn't been certified. We don't know what the holdup is." Annette Kreitzer, Leman's chief of staff, said she expects the initiative to be certified within the next two weeks. Sponsors of the initiative have grown accustomed to delays. On Jan. 13, 2003, Leman rejected 194 of 484 signature booklets over what Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock described as "trivial rule violations." Following a lawsuit from the initiative sponsors, Leman was ordered in September to recount the signature booklets. Tom Godkin, an administrative supervisor for the Division of Elections, said the division has not yet completed the total count of the petition booklets but confirmed that the group has more than enough valid signatures. Ronan said the initiative sponsors and backers plan to begin a public relations campaign next year to build support for the proposed new law. Complete Title: Alaskans to Vote on Pot Legalization in '04 Election Source: Juneau Empire (AK) Author: Timothy Inklebarger, The Juneau Empire Published: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Southeastern Newspaper Corp. Website: http://www.juneauempire.com/ Contact: letterstotheeditor@juneauempire.com Related Articles & Web Site: Free Hemp in Alaska http://www.freehempinak.org/
you know.......i jsut came from juneau.....and spent two yrs there it is already only a mistermeaner to grow up to 24 plants... and the mayor of juneau acctualy told the police to leave the people smoking pot alone and go affter real criminals.... i do miss alot about that place.... and it is leagle to smoke in your own home...they have a privacy act wich alows you to do ...WHATEVER you want in your own home and it is noones bisness.....(unless of corse you are causing harm to another individual) alaska is so cool they even have a "free alaska "political party...and there agenda is to get alaska to break away from the rest of the contry and become there own contrey!!! got to love that shit!!!
I dont think a state annexing itself is good.. i think they should keep they're laws and go in with other states, cali, nevada... etc
I seriously doubt most people would vote for us to become our own state. But I am sure as hell glad that I'll be getting to vote for my first time on such an important issue. Let's hope since they changed the initiative to just legalize it (instead of legalization and letting loose all the people currently in jail from pot busts) that it will get more support and be past into law. *crosses fingers*