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| Marijuana Bill Finished Goes Back To House, Senate |
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Posted by CN Staff on April 12, 2006 at 22:20:30 PT By Matt Volz, Associated Press Writer Source: Associated Press 
Juneau, Alaska -- A legislative conference committee on Wednesday denied one last attempt to remove tougher restrictions on marijuana possession from a drug bill before approving a final version of the measure. The bill is meant to curb the manufacture of methamphetamine and give the state the legal artillery to overturn Alaska Supreme Court decisions that have made the state's marijuana laws among the most lenient in the nation. The final bill now goes back to the House and Senate for ratification before heading to Gov. Frank Murkowski for his signature. The conference committee of six House and Senate members made only two significant changes to the bill: requiring a customer to sign a logbook before buying a medicine with an ephedrine base, such as Sudafed; and making it illegal to sell those ephedrine-based drugs to anybody under 16. Ephedrine-based drugs are a precursor to methamphetamine manufacture. The logbook requirement would mirror a provision in the federal Patriot Act. The Senate Finance Committee had rolled into the House methamphetamine bill Murkowski's priority marijuana measure that added harsher penalties for possession of the drug. The Republican members of the conference committee voted Wednesday against separating them into separate bills again. Sen. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage, said the overall goal was to reduce the number of impaired people in society. "Whether they're high on meth or stoned on pot, it's the same to me," Bunde said. Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, attempted to remove from the bill a list of legislative findings that say the marijuana available today is much more potent than that of the 1960s and 1970s, and that it may be addictive. The findings are meant to be used in an attempt to overturn a 31-year-old Supreme Court decision that allows small amounts of marijuana in Alaska homes - an amount that was later set at 4 ounces. French said those findings could not be considered scientific proof, as they were contested by scientists in committee hearings. He failed to get the votes needed to strike the findings from the bill. French also tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to make legal small amounts of marijuana for personal use in a residence, saying it was a question of the right to privacy in the home. That amendment also failed, with Bunde saying the amount of a drug a person possesses should not matter - the drug is still illegal whether it's an ounce or a pound. The bill is House Bill 149. Source: Associated Press (Wire) Related Articles & Web Sites: Regulate Marijuan and Alaska Alaskans Weigh Privacy in Marijuana Debate 'Meth-ijuana' Bill To Change Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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