The Wrangell Borough Assembly voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt an ordinance banning the public consumption of marijuana in the borough.
Assembly Member Daniel Blake said the legalization initiative already outlawed public pot consumption statewide.
“All we’re doing is picking it up as a city ordinance so if the police department writes a citation for that, the money goes to the city and not to the state,” Blake said.
There is a $100 fine for violating the public consumption law.
Wrangell’s new ordinance echoes the state’s, but better defines public places.
The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board says it is “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.”
The ordinance passed by the Wrangell assembly adds streets, sidewalks, alleys, parking areas, convention centers, sports arenas, shopping centers and malls to the list of places where you cannot consume marijuana. To consume pot on private property, you need to have permission from the property owner.
Assembly Member Stephen Prysunka said community members have been contacting him with concerns about pot regulations.
“I’m not sure how to do it, but I’d like to see it go to a community committee that would go over it further with recommendations,” Prysunka said. “I’m not sure if we want to move too quickly before the state finishes up on everything.”
Petersburg, Ketchikan and Juneau have formed advisory committees to consider marijuana regulations.
But Blake said the public consumption ordinance does not need a committee’s input.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with what the other cities are dealing with as far as committees, which is sale and production and testing and everything that goes with that. I would agree when we get to that part of it we need a committee with citizens’ input, but right now this is already law at the state level,” Blake said.
No one testified at the public hearing before the vote.
The Borough Assembly also passed an ordinance to raise admission rates at the Nolan Center Museum.