The Alaska Support Industry Alliance board of directors voted unanimously to oppose the ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana in Alaska.
Alliance General Manager Rebecca Logan said 29 of the board's 43 members voted to oppose the measure in a meeting last week. They also voted to oppose Ballot Measure 4, an act that would require the legislature to approve any large-scale mining projects in the Bristol Bay region.
The Alliance is an oil, gas and mining industry trade association that represents 500 companies and 30,000 Alaska employees. Logan said the board's decision came after over 80 percent of members responded to a poll that marijuana legalization would impact their ability to hire Alaskans.
"It's a workforce development perspective for us," she said.
Logan said Alliance members have already felt the strain of marijuana use and have had difficulty finding drug-free Alaskans for oil, gas and mining jobs the Alliance represents. The Alliance is in the process of partnering with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority to work on a multi-year campaign that would target Alaska drug use, specifically pointing out that if "you make good choices, you get good jobs."
"We're already doing something to address a barrier and to add (marijuana legalization) on top of it where we send conflicting messages to young people? It's just not a good mix," Logan said.
Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska spokesman Taylor Bickford said it was surprising that an organization "who cares about Alaska's economy would stand in opposition to a measure that seeks to create thousands of jobs for Alaskans and millions in new revenue for the state."
Bickford said the decision was likely based on bad information. He said that in Colorado the economy is "booming." While that state brought in less than what early estimates predicted, marijuana legalization has still generated over $12 million in tax revenue in the first half of the year.
The Alliance also came out against Ballot Measure 4, which could stop a project like the proposed Pebble mine from happening in the region. Logan noted that the group has not taken a position on Pebble, but came out opposing the initiative because they believe it politicizes a process that is already stringent.
Bristol Bay Forever, the group who brought forth Ballot Measure 4, disagreed with the Alliance's opposition, saying in a statement that "it is only fair to require large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve to meet the same rules that oil and gas development has followed for 40 years."
The Alliance did not have a position on Ballot Measure 3, which would increase Alaska's minimum wage. Logan said the issue was not about workforce development and therefore not appropriate for the organization to weigh in on.
"There are clear issues members are struggling with, one is being able to have a qualified workforce and the other is to have projects to work on," she said. "(Ballot measures) 2 and 4 fit into that camp, 3 doesn't fit into that camp."
The Alliance also came out in support of U.S. Senate Candidate Dan Sullivan. Logan said it's the group's first political endorsement of a candidate in 20 years.