Conservative coalition forms to support marijuana legalization

This spring, the Alaska Republican Party came out against an initiative that would regulate marijuana like alcohol. Now, some conservatives are formally declaring their support for Proposition 2.

Talk radio host Eddie Burke is part of the three-person outreach team.

“When you start breaking down those liberty and freedom issues, that’s when people understand it’s nothing to do with smoking or not smoking or whether you’re going to use it or not use it,” Burke said. “It has to do with government making decisions for you that they shouldn’t.”

But the initiative opposition group Big Marijuana Big Mistake is responding that they have even more support from the conservative movement.

Spokesperson Kristina Woolston, says that on top of having the backing of political figures like former Gov. Frank Murkowski, they’re also getting endorsements from the major Republican organizations.

“The Alaska League of Republican Women voted to support the No on 2 campaign, and they also made a financial contribution,” Woolston said. “The Republican Party has supported [us], and also Republican candidates have also lined up to support the No on 2 campaign.”

Hardly any elected officials have taken public stances in support of the marijuana initiative – there’s Democratic congressional candidate Forrest Dunbar and Democratic state legislator David Guttenberg, and that’s about it. No Republicans running for office have explicitly said they’ll vote for the initiative.

But while the marijuana initiative hasn’t gotten much public support from the state’s elected leaders, the few public polls done on the question show a tight race with most giving the initiative the edge.

Pollster Marc Hellenthal thinks when it comes to marijuana, some people may publicly take a position they think matches the social norms even though they might vote the other way. That could be especially true for officeholders.

“Public figures don’t want to get branded as a druggie and so they’re somewhat reluctant to lend their name, even though they may be very supportive,” Hellenthal said.

Of course, the only way to find out if the public sentiment matches the private one is to wait for the election returns on Nov. 4.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications