Ketchikan City Council says no to legalizing pot

  • By Associated Press
  • Sunday, September 7, 2014 10:37pm
  • News

KETCHIKAN (AP) — The Ketchikan City Council has voted against supporting the legalization of recreational marijuana.

Council members voted on Thursday to approve a resolution opposing the general election ballot proposition that would legalize marijuana in Alaska. The resolution urged voters to reject Ballot Proposition 2, the Ketchikan Daily News reports.

The resolution said legalizing recreational marijuana would create public health hazards such as explosions from people making concentrates, or driving under the influence of pot.

The City Council considered the resolution at the request of Rene Schofield, who is involved with the Substance Abuse Task Force and owns Tongass Substance Screening.

The resolution wasn’t considered alone, but rather it was part of handful of other decisions in the council’s consent agenda, which was approved as a whole.

Some residents voiced opposition to the resolution.

Eric Muench criticized the decision to put it into the consent agenda.

Not voting on the resolution separately suggested “there could not possibly be any other view to consider,” Muench said, adding that it was an “arrogant assumption.”

Of the resolution itself, he said the City Council should “leave it alone.” Marijuana use is common and “minimally harmful,” Muench said.

City Council members DeAnn Karlson and KJ Harris both said they were undecided about the proposition.

“I’m not saying yea or nay, I just understand how people don’t want to say anything aloud about how they feel one way or another,” Harris said. “That’s kind of where I’m sitting on that thing right now. I’m 51-49; I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

Karlson said she had mixed feelings about the proposition.

“I’ve seen firsthand where it’s a gateway drug for young people to move on to bigger, badder, worse things,” she said. “I can’t help but think when I was younger and my parents all smoked, the first thing I tried to do was steal their cigarettes.”

Having marijuana in more homes would make it more accessible to children, Karlson suggested. However, she also said what goes on in private homes “shouldn’t really be my business.”

 

More in News

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Inside the Iditarod

Showcase to feature stories from champion, event photographer

Paul Gebhardt is photographed on March 24, 1996. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion)
Kasilof musher dies at 67

Paul Gebhardt was a 21-time participant in the Iditarod

Santa Claus hugs Paul Cook during Christmas in the Park festivities at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna brings holiday cheer

Christmas in the Park drew hundreds to meet Santa Claus, go on sleigh rides, sip hot cocoa and listen to music

From left: Rep. Ben Carpenter, Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and Rep. Justin Ruffridge discuss their priorities regarding education during a work session with members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
School funding, accountability dominate school board work session with lawmakers

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, Rep. Ben Carpenter and Rep. Justin Ruffridge joined the board for a work session in Soldotna

Snow coats an eroding bluff near the mouth of the Kenai River on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai accepting bids on bluff stabilization project

The announcement means that contractors can start submitting their proposals for how they’d complete the work and how much it would cost to do so

A stack of the Seward Journal is pictured. The town’s only daily newspaper published its last edition Nov. 27. (Photo via Seward Journal Facebook page)
‘A thing of the past’

Seward Journal calls it quits after struggle to keep newspaper afloat

Tim Navarre and Dana Cannava discuss a preliminary Soldotna route for the Kahtnu Area Transit with Planner Bryant Wright at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Getting people where they need to go

Plans for Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Kahtnu Area Transit move forward

A state plow truck clears snow from the Kenai Spur Highway on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
DOT identifies roads included in brine reduction plan

The department said its goal is to reduce brine use overall in the region by 40%

Soldotna High School senior Josiah Burton testifies in opposition to the proposed cut of Kenai Peninsula Borough School District theater technicians while audience members look on during a board of education meeting on Monday, March 6, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
School board finance group reviews expenditures ahead of upcoming budget cycle

As the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District prepares to grapple with another… Continue reading

Most Read