In Homer, cannabis club members are reacting to the opinion issued by Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth on Wednesday, which said that private clubs that allow people to consume marijuana in exchange for a fee are illegal. They say the are looking forward to a legal battle.
Besides clubs being illegal, the Attorney General says that offering marijuana samples to paying patrons may violate state criminal law that bars distributing marijuana without a valid commercial license.
A cannabis social club existed for two months in Homer earlier this
year, founding member Lindianne Sarno says she would like to see the issue
go to court with arguments on both sides.
She says that Homer club members were just following their First Amendment right to assemble, and they shouldn’t be treated any differently than people going to other private clubs.
“When we passed the ballot initiative the title of the initiative was to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol and so we saw ourselves, our club, as really no different from the VFW. They freely assembly, they have a club, it’s a private club, you can’t get into it unless you are a member – but they serve alcohol and we serve cannabis. So in very many ways we are being discriminated against,” said Sarno.
Timothy Clark, who also helped start Homer’s cannabis club, agrees and says cannabis clubs are key for integrating responsible use of the pot into communities.
“To me it is a bit of an outrage. I am on the cannabis advisory commission for Homer. I’m doing everything I can to try to help these laws come through in a responsible way. I would like to see it kept out of teenagers and children’s hands. I want to prove that this can be done responsibly. And I think that all of the clubs did prove that we can do this responsibly without harming people,” said Clark.
Another founding member of Homer’s club, Scott Owens, says he believes the Attorney General’s opinion will be challenged in court because voters like him expected marijuana to be treated just like alcohol.
“We’ve all voted it legal, as alcohol. If I drank, I would go to a bar and have a beer and socialize and hang out with my friends. And if I smoked, I would go to a cannabis club and hang out with people who smoke cannabis because I do not want to be around people who drink. You know, why can’t we have both?” said Owens.
Members say they hope to eventually bring the club back to Homer once the issue is worked out in court.
