Last updated December 16, 2004.

Alaska allows patients to use medical marijuana if they have specified medical conditions, a state registry ID card and the advice of a physician. Caregivers must also have the ID cards to avoid prosecution for distribution of marijuana. This law was enacted in March of 1999 after voters passed Ballot Measure #8.

A district attorney in Alaska is set to re-examine his state's lenient marijuana laws in hopes of overturning them. The office of the Anchorage district attorney has, with the support of Gov. Frank Murkowski, initiated a process it hopes will lead to a reversal of Ravin v. Alaska, the 1975 Alaska Supreme Court case that legalized personal possession of up to 4 ounces of marijuana by adults in their homes. The district attorney's decision to ask a judge to re-open the issue in the state comes on the heels of an appeals court ruling on the legality of marijuana possession there.