Palmer, Alaska, Commercial Marijuana Ban Initiative, Proposition No. P-1 (October 2015)
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An initiative to ban recreational marijuana businesses was on the ballot for Palmer voters in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, on October 6, 2015. It was approved.
This measure enacted Ordinance No. 15-020, which was designed to prohibit the operation of any recreational marijuana business.[1][2]
A separate initiative with identical provisions was filed that would have, upon approval, applied to the unincorporated areas of Matanuska-Susitna Borough. This borough-wide initiative did not make the ballot. Similar initiative efforts in Wasilla and Houston were pursued by proponents. The proposed initiative reached the October 2015 election ballot in Houston, but not in Wasilla.[2]
Election results
| Palmer, Proposition No. P-1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 374 | 54.05% | ||
| No | 318 | 45.95% | ||
- Election results from Palmer Canvass Board
Text of measure
Ballot question
The following question appeared on the ballot:[3]
| “ |
Ordinance No. 15-020: An Initiative Ordinance of the Voters of the City of Palmer Enacting Palmer Municipal Code Chapter 5.32 Marijuana Businesses, Prohibiting the Operation of Marijuana Cultivation Facilities, Marijuana Manufacturing Facilities, Marijuana Testing Facilities, and Retail Marijuana Stores Pursuant to AS 17.38.110 Local Control, but Not Restricting Industrial Hemp as Defined Herein Shall Ordinance No. 15-020 be enacted? Ordinance No. 15-020, as initiated, proposes to enact Palmer Municipal Code Chapter 5.32. In the City of Palmer, Palmer Municipal Code Chapter 5.32 as enacted:
Proposition No. P-1 Yes ( ) (A yes vote enacts the ordinance). No ( ) (A no vote fails the ordinance).[4] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the initiative is available here.
Background
In 2014, Alaska voters approved Measure 2, legalizing recreational marijuana use according to state law. In the election for Measure 2, electors in Palmer voted in favor of legalization by a margin of 4 percent.[2][5]
Support
Supporters
Donna Irsik was the name of the official sponsor of this initiative.[2]
Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss, who ran for re-election on October 6, 2015, supported this initiative.[6]
Arguments in favor
Speaking of recreational marijuana use, Sally Pollen, a sponsor of the borough-wide initiative, said, “I’m sure the black market is alive and well. But I don’t think it’s right for a city or for the government to sanction something like that. … Just because it’s made inroads and people are actually doing it, I don’t feel it’s healthy for the community to say it’s OK.”[2]
Scott Thompson, ministry director at Faith Recovery Fellowship in Wasilla, helped to organize the petition drive for the Houston counterpart of this initiative. Thompson said, “Any substance that alters a person’s personality or ability to reason is counterproductive to our society. It’s hard for me to rationalize legalizing a substance on the basis of monetary gain, no matter what community it’s in.”[6]
Thompson, who works as a chaplain for the Alaska Correctional Ministries, also said, “It’s destructive. It’s destructive to families, it’s destructive to individuals, it medically has impacts on young people’s minds and their cognitive reasoning and it does not have a productive benefit to society. I don’t drink, but I work in an institution where a huge percentage of the people that are in that institution are in that institution because of alcohol related issues, crimes. Therefore, I think they are related. Introducing marijuana and making it legal does not justify the damage that’s going to come out of it, just like alcohol and alcoholism are huge problems in the villages and the community as a whole. I don’t know how we can justify marijuana just because alcohol’s legal.”[5]
Opposition
Arguments against
Opponents of the initiative said legal marijuana sales would weaken the black market and increase revenue for the city. Opponents claimed that banning commericial sale of marijuana would fail to reduce marijuana consumption, while bulstering the black market and needlessly rejecting tax revenue.[2]
Editorials
- The editorial board of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman published an article in opposition to this initiative and its Houston counterpart. The article argued that Alaskans already spoke on this issue when they approved Measure 2 in 2014 and that special local rules would create confusion and inhibit economic growth. An excerpt of the editorial is below:
| “ |
Recent proposals to ban marijuana businesses in Palmer and Houston fly directly in the face of votes cast by those towns’ residents only a few short months ago. These proposals not only send a message that those votes shouldn’t matter, but they’re shortsighted because the state has not even yet determined the shape of weed legalization in Alaska. [...] If voters pass these strict new regulations, it could simply mean that new businesses choose to set up shop elsewhere – a prospect that flies in the face of the idea that small business is the core of a local economy. To eliminate a potentially lucrative source of revenue for Palmer and Houston would be a mistake. Area residents should just say no to these half-baked commercial marijuana bans.[4] |
” |
| —The Mat-Su Frontiersman editorial board[7] | ||
Path to the ballot
The first draft of this initiative was rejected by the city clerk. Petitioners submitted an amended version of the initiative, which needed approval from the city clerk before signature gathering could begin. Signatures equal to 25 percent of the votes cast in the last general city election were required to qualify the initiative for the ballot. Moreover, the signatures needed to be submitted early enough to provide 60 days between signature petition verification and the targeted election date. On July 22, 2015, city elections officials announced that petitioners had submitted enough valid signatures to qualify the measure for consideration by the city council. Since the city council did not directly approve the ordinance, it was put before voters at the election on October 6, 2015.[2][8]
Related measures
Statewide
Local
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Palmer commercial marijuana ban initiative. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Local marijuana on the ballot
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska ballot measures
- October 6, 2015 ballot measures in Alaska
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, "Initiative would prohibit marijuana businesses," May 30, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Alaska Dispatch News, "Proposed Mat-Su ballot measures would ban commercial marijuana operations," June 11, 2015
- ↑ Palmer City Clerk, "Notice of Election on October 6, 2015," accessed September 17, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, "Palmer, Houston to revist [sic marijuana issue," August 22, 2015]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Alaska Dispatch News, "Mat-Su voters to weigh commercial pot bans in October," August 26, 2015
- ↑ The Mat-Su Frontiersman, "Pot props should go up in smoke," August 22, 2015
- ↑ Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, "Palmer certifies pot ballot measure," July 23, 2015
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