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- <text id=90TT2820>
- <title>
- Oct. 29, 1990: American Notes:Alaska
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Oct. 29, 1990 Can America Still Compete?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 47
- American Notes
- ALASKA
- Will They Just Vote No?
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> For 15 years, the right of Alaskans to smoke grass at home
- has been as commonplace as the privilege of watching a moose
- graze in the backyard. But antidrug crusaders, who expect to
- be bolstered this week by a visit from federal drug czar
- William Bennett, are pressing voters to recriminalize the
- private possession of small amounts of marijuana--made legal
- in 1975 by a court privacy decision--this November. Says
- Marie Majewske of Alaskans for the Recriminalization of
- Marijuana: "When a drug is perceived to be socially acceptable,
- it is used and abused a great deal more."
- </p>
- <p> Nonsense, say opponents. The ballot measure targets one of
- the least dangerous drugs, they claim, and ignores the far more
- serious problems posed by alcohol in Alaska. More
- fundamentally, argue ads launched by Alaskans for Privacy this
- month, the campaign is "about the government telling you what
- you can eat, drink or smoke in your own home." Poll tallies
- taken before the latest privacy offensive show the anti-pot
- initiative passing 60% to 40%.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-