Alaska scrubs hundreds of pot convictions from court database

Hundreds of Alaska residents will have their previous marijuana convictions removed from the state’s online court database.

The move follows an order from the Supreme Court late last month, according to local media reports.

Local news station KTUU reports that as of May 1, “marijuana possession convictions of nearly 800 Alaskan residents will be removed from Courtview, a public online database of court cases.”

The order “follows years of similar unsuccessful legislative efforts to join a nationwide trend,” according to the Anchorage Daily News.

“I’m glad the Supreme Court ordered this,” said Democratic state senator Scott Kawasaki, as quoted by the Anchorage Daily News.

As determined by the state Supreme Court, removal from the system applies to individuals “convicted of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana … or an earlier version of this statute that criminalized the same conduct, or a municipal ordinance criminalizing it.” punished for the same conduct if … the accused was 21 years of age or older at the time of the offense and … the accused was not convicted of other criminal charges in the same case.”

According to the Anchorage Daily News, these “records will continue to be available for inspection in courthouses and locatable through a formal criminal background check, but they will not be as easy to find for the general public.”

Alaska legalized recreational cannabis for adults in 2014 when a majority of the state’s voters approved a ballot measure to overturn cannabis prohibition.

“Given that (marijuana) has been legal for eight years, it seemed to the Supreme Court that this was an appropriate time not to let people suffer the negative consequences of having your name published on Courtview can. Because the conduct is currently considered legal,” said Nancy Meade, general counsel of the Alaska Court System.

In September, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, issued an executive order creating a new task force “to review current marijuana tax and fee structures and regulations applicable to marijuana operators and to make suggestions to the governor’s office for improvements.” ”

“For the past seven years, Alaska’s marijuana industry has thrived but is still considered a new and developing industry in Alaska,” Dunleavy said in the announcement. “As we would expect with any new industry, concerns have been raised about the structure under which the industry operates. A cornerstone of my administration has been reviewing unnecessary regulations that weigh on the economy while providing oversight to protect the health, life, and safety of all Alaskans. It is my hope that with the formation of the Governor’s Advisory Task Force on Recreational Marijuana, we can bring together a variety of voices and perspectives to evaluate existing regulations and consider recommendations to improve the viability of the industry.”

Dunleavy’s office said the task force will consist of 13 members, three of whom will be “the Treasury Commissioner’s Commissioner or Commissioner’s Commissioner; The Commissioner of the Department of Trade, Community and Economic Development or the Commissioner’s Commissioner; [and] The director of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture.”

The remaining ten members of the task force are identified as follows: “One member who sits on the Alaska Marijuana Control Board; A member representing a city, county, or municipality that permits recreational marijuana operations within its jurisdictional boundaries; A member who is a standard licensed marijuana grower in the state; A member who is a limited licensed marijuana grower in the state; A member who is a licensed manufacturer of marijuana products or concentrates in the state; A member who is a licensed marijuana dealer in the state; Three licensed marijuana operators from all segments of the industry; [and] A public member.”