Backers of initiative to legalize marijuana in Alaska turn in signatures

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/2014/01/08/3264121/backers-of-initiative-to-legalize.html

Backers of a ballot initiative that could make Alaska the third state to legalize marijuana for recreational use turned in some 46,000 signatures to the state election officials Wednesday -- putting the question one step closer to the Aug. 19 ballot.

The Alaska measure is modeled on the 2012 Colorado initiative that paved the way for a recreational-pot industry that threw open its doors there on Jan. 1, when the law went into effect.

The backers of the Alaska initiative effort say legal marijuana is an idea whose time has come.

"It's not that the initiative would bring marijuana to Alaska," said Bill Parker, a former Department of Corrections deputy commissioner and one of the initiative's sponsors. "Marijuana is already in Alaska. It would legalize, regulate and tax it. It would treat it like alcohol."

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Only 30,000 signatures were needed.