By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
"North To The Future" is Alaska's state motto, and the future is cannabis legalization, according to the polls. State voters will get a chance to have their say at the ballot box on August 19 after supporters collected enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the ballot.
"They have hit the magic numbers," said Alaska elections director Gail Fenumiai on Tuesday, reports Michelle Theriault Boots at the Anchorage Daily News. The totals are still unofficial.
The signature threshold was reached on Tuesday morning by Alaska's Campaign to Regulate Marijuana. Totals posted on the Alaska Division of Elections' website showed 31,593 valid voter signatures had been counted.
Tim Hinterberger and fellow Campaign to Regulate Marijuana backers submitted more than 46,000 signatures on January 8. Alaska law requires 30,000 valid signatures to qualify. Initiative backers also met the requirement to gather signatures from at least 30 of the state's 40 House districts. The effort is co-sponsored by Hinterberger; Bill Parker, a former deputy commissioner in the Alaska Department of Corrections; and Mary Reff.
