Wasilla council ‘rehashes’ pot laws

WASILLA — Marijuana brownies and other edibles are once again legal in Wasilla, provided they are for personal use.

The city council voted 4-2 Monday evening to amend portions of recently adopted codes relating to marijuana law. Those provisions had outlawed concentrates and other forms of non-smoked marijuana, and limited transportation of marijuana to 2 ounces per vehicle.

The changes adopted March 23 permit edibles or concentrates, as long as they aren’t manufactured for “sale or other commercial use.” Council members also amended the transportation requirement to a single sentence, essentially saying Wasilla statutes would conform to state law.

The city moved to address several issues in resolutions passed before marijuana was legalized Feb. 24.

A few citizens who spoke at Monday’s meeting said they preferred the use of edibles for medical purposes, and as a personal choice issue.

Kathy Smith uses marijuana to replace numerous medications for a chronic medical condition.

“I’m the smoothie lady, the lady who juices it raw,” she said. “I was on umpteen amounts of medication.”

The changes would allow greater personal freedom for consumers, said Sara Williams, CEO for aspiring local marijuana business Midnight Greenery.

“I do want to come out in support of (Resolution) 15-10,” she said. “At the moment it makes sense. It’s a reasonable change to what has been put into current law. It really supports the personal freedoms of at-home consumptions and in-home edibles.

Councilman Brandon Wall authored the resolution. Changes to the ordinances could head off potential lawsuits over city ordinances, which appeared to conflict with the intent of Ballot Measure 2, passed in November statewide, but not among voters in either the Valley as a whole or in Wasilla. Voters in Palmer and Houston voted to approve the measure.

Ballot Measure 2 was like a pressure relief valve on a giant boiler called the war on drugs, Wall said. But may have erred in its efforts to be proactive, he said. Wall said shortly after the council’s vote he had a phone call from Juneau saying the rules Wasilla had passed were illegal.

“I think what happened with the ordinance we passed is we tried to navigate our way through this steam-filled boiler and we hit our arm against a hot steam pipe, and it hurt,” he said. “I think we were looking for a way out. But I think we made some mistakes.”

Deputy Mayor A. Clark Buswell and Councilman Stu Graham disagreed saying the legislation was premature, or that Ballot Measure 2 was deeply flawed.

“This whole initiative process is so flawed that it’s almost unworkable,” Graham said.

Buswell questioned the wisdom of enacting local ordinances potentially in violation of federal law.

“We have another issue here,” he said. “This whole law is illegal because it’s based on a state law that is in conflict with federal law, and you can’t do that. Federal law always takes precedent over state law, and because the current administration chooses not to enforce federal law, we’re getting away with that. And so have the other states that voted for it (legalization). I don’t see how they can sue us on a law that’s not federally legal.”