Alaska Judge Rules Adults Can Use Marijuana in Home

In a lawsuit filed by the Alaska branch of the Americans for Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an Alaska state court judge has ruled that adults in that state have the right to possess and use small amounts of marijuana inside their homes.

In-home possession and use of small amounts of marijuana was first decriminalized in Alaska in 1975, when the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution’s privacy provisions protected the act.

The ACLU’s lawsuit challenged a state law passed earlier this year that would have re-criminalized adult possession and use of small quantities of marijuana.

In court, the State of Alaska contended that the 1975 state Supreme Court ruling should be reconsidered, since marijuana had “become more potent and dangerous” since then. Judge Patricia Collins of the Juneau Superior Court disagreed, finding that the 1975 ruling “is law until and unless the supreme court takes contrary action.”

“The state of Alaska has charted a different course from that of the federal government's failed policy on marijuana,” said Michael MacLeod-Ball, Executive Director of the ACLU of Alaska in a press release. “This ruling affirms Alaska's commitment to fundamental privacy rights over reefer madness.”

Alaska remains the only state in the nation where in-home possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by adults is legally allowed.

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