The second town hall style meeting put on by the Kenai Community Coalition on Cannabis focused most of its time on the legislative process that’s just beginning.
Leif Able with the statewide Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation presented some of hopes the organization has heard from Alaskans during the meeting.
Able: “The citizens that come to me and reach out to me and invite me to their events are usually pro cannabis and so they bring up pro cannabis concerns, a lot of these people want to run small mom and pop businesses, these are a lot of good people, family people, great Alaskans and they do want to run small mom and pop businesses, other than wanting this to be a local business in the end, wanting to be able to be able to do a small start-up is one of the biggest requests from Alaskan citizens.”
He said people had also recommended that lawmakers implement safety measures versus trying to block what already passed and that the licensing for marijuana related businesses be limited to Alaskan residents.
Able said in his opinion the top way to achieve those things if for people on both sides to be involved and have a healthy back and forth.
Later in the meeting Borough Mayor Mike Navarre and Assemblyman Mako Haggerty, along with Kenai Mayor Pat Porter and Councilman Tim Navarre answered questions from the public.
At one point Mayor Navarre pointed out Ballot Measure 2 did technically fail in some of the Kenai Peninsula districts and that last night’s meeting most likely drew a particularly pro audience.
The Kelly Wolf ordinance up for discussion at tonight’s Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting was also addressed, with Mayor Navarre stating that neither low oil prices nor new marijuana regulations should be over reacted to.
Able said the local lawmakers presence and conversation with the public is a very important part of creating working legislation for the initiative.
Able: “The back and forth between all the politicians here, this is great, this is exactly what we are all looking for, an open transparent dialog to create responsible regulations that’s all that we’re asking for, we want to see the intent of the initiative carried out.”
