Opinions

Alaska Robotics News: Attack of the giant weed monster!

Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series of six Alaska Robotics News multimedia commentaries leading up to the 2014 general election. Look online for new videos each Monday and Thursday.

A Pew Research survey estimated in June that almost half of the adults in our country have used marijuana. That's more than 150 million Americans. Here in Alaska, a quarter of young adults have tried the drug in the last month.

I think we have a "cow path problem" here.

In urban design circles there's this story about an architect who created a college campus with no paved walkways, just open fields of grass. When the students arrived, they trampled their own paths into the lawn, and the architect was able to see where foot traffic demanded a walkway.

In other cases, designers wait for snow to come and they watch where footprints appear. If there's existing infrastructure, they can use this information to arrange obstacles or fences which will guide people back onto an existing path.

This is all very similar to the question of marijuana regulation. Alaska has a well-worn path which we know many people are traveling, and next week we will vote to either pave this path or continue to allow folks to tromp through the mud and snow.

Not that Alaskans can't handle a little mud and snow.

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I'm honestly not certain how I'll vote on the marijuana ballot measure. I was solidly in the yes camp until I watched a speech given by the Tanana 4-H girls. Now I'm conflicted.

I don't want to contribute to the horrible problems that these young women and others like them have to face, but maybe if more people could self-medicate with weed, they wouldn't need to rely on alcohol. I don't know.

We have so many big decisions ahead of us, I hope you'll come out and vote on Tuesday. We need everyone's perspective to make informed decisions as a community, and however you vote, it does make a difference because you're thinking about the question and answering it for yourself.

Created by Pat Race, Lou Logan, Aaron Suring, Jamie Karnik and many others, Alaska Robotics News is a political satire series focused on Alaska. The series was initially funded through Kickstarter and some cash donated in an unmarked brown paper bag. Alaska Robotics is a group in Juneau publishing short films, comics and many other creative works. Follow their projects online at AlaskaRobotics.com or in person at their gallery at 220 Front Street.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.

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