Juneau, AK: House representatives voted this week to reject Senate provisions that sought to overturn a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling (Ravin v. State) upholding the right of citizens to possess up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of their homes.
The Senate had approved the provisions, which would make the possession of less than four ounces of marijuana a misdemeanor and the possession of greater amounts a felony, as amendments to House Bill 149, which primarily addresses the manufacturing of methamphetamine. However, last night the House voted 23 to 15 to send the bill back to the Senate, ordering them to withdraw the changes. If the Senate refuses to do so, a conference committee of representatives and senators will try to reach a compromise that both chambers can agree on.
A similar, 2005 stand-alone version of the marijuana bill failed to garner a vote in either chamber.
NORML’s Legal Counsel Keith Stroup praised the House for voting down the Senate’s anti-marijuana provisions. “These provisions, introduced at the behest of the Governor, had not been properly debated by House lawmakers,” he said. “The Senate’s attempt to merge these provisions with a popular anti-methamphetamine bill that had been previously approved by the House was a cynical attempt to try and recriminalize cannabis without engaging in any substantive legislative debate.”
If the conference committee approves the proposed marijuana penalties, it will likely force the Court to revisit its 1975 ruling.
If that happens, the Court will likely rebuff the legislature, Stroup predicts. “The right to privacy is more important to the Court and to most Alaskans than the Governor’s ill-advised war on marijuana smokers,” he said.
In 2004, the Alaska Supreme Court rejected a petition by the state attorney general’s office to reconsider a September 2003 Court of Appeals ruling finding that the possession of marijuana by adults within the home is constitutionally protected activity.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Legal Counsel, at (202) 483-5500.