And it only calls for an advisory panel to consider restitution. But questions about the initiative don't end there. The Department of Law, which reviewed the initiative and approved it for the ballot, said many provisions are unclear and would have to be decided in court if Proposition 5 passes. Proposition 5's mention of testing people for marijuana use is open to debate even among backers of the initiative. His firm conducts that sort of test for about 3,000 Alaska employers, including trucking firms.
Federal law requires trucking outfits and other employers to drug test their commercial drivers.
No one has invented a Breathalyzer for pot or a way to test for active marijuana in the body, said Fagnani, who is working on the No on 5 campaign. So make one, Anders says. The problem with the test now in use, he and Karpinski said, is that it doesn't discriminate between a driver who comes to work high and one who had a few hits at a party days earlier. As he reads it, it says the government can't require that companies do this kind of testing but employers may require such tests as a condition of employment. But he referred questions to Karpinski, who had a different interpretation.