Alaska will become the third US state to allow residents to use marijuana recreationally on Tuesday, but an ambiguous ban on smoking in public will keep residents from lighting up outdoors.  Alaskans voted to legalize recreational pot use by adults in private places last November, but left state and local governments with the task of shaping the regulatory framework around the use and sale of marijuana in the Last Frontier. Until then, pot enthusiasts must carefully navigate a dizzying legal landscape.  For example, “public” isn’t clearly defined in Alaska statute, which leaves the decision on how to enforce the smoking ban up to communities to interpret. In Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, the police department has threatened to hand out $100 fines for anyone caught smoking marijuana in public. The police chief, Mark Mew, said his officers have been instructed to strictly enforce the ban, and even warned residents who live near a park against smoking on their porches.  But officials in other areas of the state said smoking a joint outdoors wouldn’t be an issue, as long as it didn’t cause problems with neighbors or residents.  Related: Alaska becomes third US state to legalise recreational marijuana use  Alaska joins Washington and Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012. As of Tuesday, Alaskans aged 21 and older can keep, use, transport, grow and give away pot. It remains illegal, however, to sell or publicly smoke it.  Under the initiative, residents can possess, carry and share up to 1oz (28gm) of marijuana and an accessory, like a vape or pipe. They can also possess, grow and transport up to six plants, or give six immature plants. Though it’s not clear exactly how much pot residents are allowed to possess in their home, the initiative says that any amount that is harvested from the six personal marijuana plants is allowed.  Alaskans won’t see a commercial cannabis market until 2016 at the earliest, which is around the same time as Oregon is due to begin the sale of marijuana.  Alaska has a complicated legal history with marijuana, and activists are hopeful the initiative will bring clarity under the law.  In 1975, the Alaska supreme court ruled that banning home use and possession of small amounts of marijuana violated a constitutional right to privacy. The decision, however, failed to clearly define how much weed a person could possess. In 1982 the Alaska legislature decided that residents could possess up to 4oz, an amount that was later reduced to 1oz.  In 2006, state lawmakers voted to re-criminalize small amounts of marijuana. The law was challenged in court, but a clear resolution was never reached.
Smoking it is fine, just not in public – unless of course the local police don’t mind. And feel free to grow it and give it away, but buying and selling pot is still illegal