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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Dec 26, 2013 6:25:44 GMT -7
The beauty of Alaska !!!  |
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Post by Jaga on Dec 26, 2013 9:02:04 GMT -7
I have a picture of our family in front of the mountains with this fireweed purple flowers. Kaima, you need to add yourself and your jumping deer to the picture  |
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Post by pieter on Dec 26, 2013 16:32:29 GMT -7
It's a great image John. I love movies and wild life documentries (National Geographic, Discovery chanal or BBC Frozen Planet) about Alaska.
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Post by Jaga on Dec 27, 2013 9:17:42 GMT -7
Kai should send some photo, so that we know how it looks like near his house Kai, where you are? |
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Jan 9, 2014 6:46:23 GMT -7
We'll have new images growing out there in the great beyond. It will be called "Snow Pot" !!!!
Jan 8, 7:22 PM EST
Alaska group takes next step to legalize marijuana
By MARK THIESSEN
Latest News
Alaska group takes next step to legalize marijuana
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A citizens' group hoping to make Alaska the third state in the nation to legalize recreational use of marijuana took a step closer Wednesday, submitting more than 46,000 signatures to the state election office.
If enough signatures are verified - they need about 30,000 qualified signatures - the question of whether to make pot legal in the nation's northernmost state will go before voters in the Aug. 19 primary. Signatures must come from at least 7 percent of voters in at least 30 House districts.
"It's clear that Alaskans are eager to have an opportunity to express their displeasure with the current system and make a change," said one of sponsors, Tim Hinterberger, a professor in the School of Medical Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
"I have a great feeling today," said another sponsor, Mary Reff, after she and other volunteers carried in 20 boxes of signatures to the state elections office in Anchorage.
Voters in Colorado and Washington state last year legalized marijuana, and the language of the Alaska initiative is similar to the Colorado measure.
"We have no reason to think our campaign will be any less successful," Hinterberger said.
State election officials have 60 days to accept or deny the initiative for the ballot, Alaska Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said in an email to The Associated Press.
The state has a complicated relationship with marijuana.
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1975 that banning home use and possession of small amounts of marijuana violated a constitutional right to privacy. Since then, activists and others have battled over the law and its implications.
The 1975 decision did not mention a specific amount one could possess, but in 1982 the Alaska Legislature determined less than 4 ounces was fine unless there was evidence of sales or distribution. That amount was later reduced to 1 ounce.
The law remains murky. In 2006, the Alaska Legislature passed a law re-criminalizing small amounts of pot at home. The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska challenged the law on privacy grounds and won in Superior Court. But the state appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court, which threw out the lower court decision but didn't clarify the conflict with the earlier law.
This initiative, Hinterberger said, will bring Alaska statute into accordance with the 1975 Supreme Court decision and the 1982 possession of one ounce.
"We're just going to try to remove any ambiguity," he said.
No formal opposition has formed to the proposed initiative.
If the measure qualifies for the ballot, he anticipates a high-profile campaign with radio and TV advertising. Hinterberger didn't identify any financial supporters, saying those will be made public when campaign finance forms are submitted. The Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for fewer restrictions on marijuana across the country, has previously pledged support for the Alaska proposal.
The initiative makes possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana and up to six plants, including three flowering, legal for adults 21 and older. However, it does not allow the public consumption of weed. Anyone smoking in public would face a $100 fine.
It also makes the manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana accessories legal.
The proposed initiative would grant regulatory control to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, but also give the Alaska Legislature the option to create a Marijuana Control Board.
The control board would have nine months to enact regulations, and applications will be accepted one year after the effective date of the initiative.
The proposal creates the establishment of marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, infused-product manufacturers and marijuana testing facilities. An excise tax of $50 per ounce will be placed on sales or transfers from a cultivation facility to a retail store or infused-product manufacturer.
Local communities could ban the use of marijuana, but communities cannot prohibit private possession and plant growing at home. Employers also are allowed to impose restrictions on marijuana use by employees.
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Post by kaima on Jan 9, 2014 9:11:10 GMT -7
We have a long history with marijuana in Alaska, and not just the "under the table" history most of the USA has. August 1972: Alaska voters overwhelmingly approve a right to privacy amendment to the state constitution. December 1972: Homer resident Irwin Ravin pushes a test case under the new right, arranging to get charged for possession of two joints. 1975: Alaska Supreme Court rules unanimously in favor of Ravin, declaring that the right to privacy trumps the law banning possession of small amounts of pot in a person's home. It doesn't define how much pot that is. 1982: The Alaska Legislature settles on four ounces as the most a person can possess before committing a misdemeanor. 1990: Voters pass a recriminalization initiative, 105,263 to 88,644. It's eventually struck down as unconstitutional. 1998: Voters approve a medical marijuana initiative, 131,586 to 92,701. But the state never establishes any marijuana dispensaries, and buying and selling pot remains illegal. 2000: Voters crush an initiative to fully legalize pot and pay restitution to people imprisoned under the law, 165,315 to 114,321. 2004: A less sweeping initiative to legalize pot is defeated, 169,608 to 134,647. 2006: At Gov. Frank Murkowski's urging, the Alaska Legislature passes another bill recriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot. Murkowski hopes to use Legislative findings to convince the Supreme Court to overturn Ravin, but Murkowski is voted out of office and no one is busted under the new law to create a situation under which it can be brought to the high court. June 14, 2013: Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell certifies an initiative to legalize pot in Alaska and establish a regulatory framework under which it can be grown and marketed. If backers get enough signatures, it will appear on the primary ballot in August. Read more here: www.adn.com/2013/09/07/3063577/timeline-alaska-and-marijuana.html#storylink=cpy |
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Post by Jaga on Jan 9, 2014 19:07:12 GMT -7
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Post by Jaga on Jan 9, 2014 19:09:00 GMT -7
check which is the dumbest state!
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Post by kaima on Jan 9, 2014 22:31:02 GMT -7
The suicide rate is terrible up here, as is the rate of rape. As I remember the shocking statistics we are the third worst in the USA, and if we cut that rate in half we would move up to the 7th worst. It is also a tough state for domestic violence and for strain on marriages. What surprises me is that Arizona is worse than we are for alcoholism. We used to joke that Washington DC was the only place worse, and that was because we sent our biggest alcoholics down there! Sadly we ran out of alcoholics and we send down politicians fitting the US standard of incompetent politicians, incapable of fulfilling their constitutional duties to govern this formerly great country. Each claims to be more conservative than the other, and each spends every borrowed nickle they can grub their hands on. So in that respect we are standard US issue. Kai the Disillusioned PS We do put out a crop of high grade marijuana from Sarah Palin's town of Wasilly. With luck we can get that law passed freeing up J again and turn our biggest cash crop into still bigger business! |
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