Update, April 24, 6 p.m.: Big thanks to a Fairbanks reader who sent in a link to a News-Miner story about a new rule in his town that pertains directly to the matter treated below in an Anchorage context. The Fairbanks City Council unanimously added cannabis smoking to ordinances covering disturbing the peace, which could even apply to adults lawfully consuming pot on their own property. The rule would kick in only after a warning has been issued and disregarded.
"R" in Anchorage asks for additional clarity on the "public use" issue we've discussed at some length in the past. He asks: "I own my house. Can I simply stand out in the open in my unfenced yard, totally visible from the public street and my neighbors' houses, and smoke a joint? Thanks!"
Well, R, assuming you're of age, the answer to that scenario is yes. Just because people might be able to see you smoking pot, you're not breaking the law if you're on your own property. Barring other factors (like posing a hazard or nuisance), you are free to send clouds of green blessing toward the heavens from your own property in full view of everyone. On your own property, you could even smoke a joint on the roof and name your chimney Larry.
The state statutes that were instituted when Ballot Measure 2 took effect explicitly bar "public" use of marijuana, but they didn't contain a definition of what a public space was. Some groups voiced concerns that the lack of definition posed a problem, and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board adopted an emergency order to clarify things. Anchorage put a similar definition on the books. Both definitions match Title 11 of Alaska Statute:
"public place" means a place to which the public or a substantial group of persons has access and includes highways, transportation facilities, schools, places of amusement or business, parks, playgrounds, prisons, and hallways, lobbies, and other portions of apartment houses and hotels not constituting rooms or apartments designed for actual residence;
Your front yard may have an awesome view, but it's not a state park, which, as we learned some time ago, qualifies as a public place. Since "the public" or "a substantial group of persons" doesn't have access to your private property, fenced yard or not, your home isn't a public space.
Read more Highly Informed: Seeking answers to Alaska's cannabis questions
Anchorage Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler agreed with that conclusion via email, and added that it doesn't exempt all private property necessarily. Some private property isn't technically private for the purposes of the local public use ordinance.
If your private property were more like a shopping mall or store, he said, it would qualify as a public space where pot smoking isn't allowed. "These are 'places of business' and 'which the public or a substantial group of persons has access.' People cannot consume marijuana on these kinds of private properties," he wrote.
That prohibition on public consumption also includes common areas of apartment or condo complexes, but it doesn't apply to an apartment's private balcony. But since you're at your own home and don't have a landlord, you can smoke away. You could even smoke one joint while you roll three for later. For extra difficulty points, you could try rolling a blunt, or even try to replicate the legendary "Tree of Life."
But if you're at home, why would you want to use a joint? Joints are generally no-fuss, no-muss affairs, but they are one of the more irritating ways to consume pot. If you're in your castle, why not toke up in a less irritating way? To each his own, of course, but at home base, some complexity to soothe your consumption wouldn't be difficult to manage.
You don't have to get wildly complicated and engineer a gravity system or add a deck piling that doubles as a steamroller, but maybe at least introduce some water to the process? Spilling bongwater on your lawn isn't nearly as bad as on your carpet, after all, and glassware designers have reached new heights of filtration, which translates to much cleaner hits than a joint can give. There's also vaporization, which lacks all combustion entirely. That method would also pretty much end the chances your yard session would irritate anyone with smoke, even the nosiest neighbor.
There may be other reasons you might want to be discreet, but the law alone isn't keeping you from openly using cannabis on your own property no matter what method you choose.
Have a question about marijuana news or culture in Alaska? Send it to cannabis-north@alaskadispatch.com with "Highly Informed" in the subject line.