Legal pot use soon a short drive away for Yukoners

Legal pot use will be just a couple of hours drive away for many Yukoners when Alaska legalizes marijuana next year.

Alaskans voted Tuesday to legalize marijuana use for people 21 and over. That will include Yukoners who often cross the border to visit communities like Skagway and Haines.

People can already buy and use pot in Colorado and the state of Washington, but it won't be available to buy in Alaska until regulations are developed through a marijuana control board. That could take about nine months.

On the street in Whitehorse people have mixed feelings about legal pot in Alaska.

Gladys-Leigh Villacorta worriesit could mean increased access to marijuana for young Yukoners.

"I think anybody can go into the store and buy it and smoke, kids then, their access to it, then anyone can do it. I don't think it's good definitely not for the youth," Villacorta says.

But Erik Umbrich believes popular opinion is coming around to the right decision.

"I'm kinda grateful that people are finally starting to realize that it's not that bad of a substance, it's recreational, it's perfectly subjective, if you want to do it, go ahead and do it," Umbrich says.

They're discovering that hemp marijuana has incredible healing properties and I will go so far as to say it is probably the most medicinal plant on the planet- Vince Fedoroff, resident of Whitehorse

And Vince Fedoroff says marijuana has been greatly under-appreciated.

"They're discovering that hemp marijuana has incredible healing properties and I will go so far as to say it is probably the most medicinal plant on the planet," Fedoroff says.

Whitehorse City CouncillorKirk Cameronsays science shows marijuana is harmful for young people whosebrains are still developing, but otherwise it's no worse than problems created by alcohol.

"We just finished a lunch-hour meeting with the RCMP and we talked about alcohol, and how it does have an impact on our city," Cameron says.

Officials at the U.S. border control in Alaska say federal laws at borders still apply - which designate cannibis as an illegal substance. Canadian border security says nothing has changed: it's still a criminal offence to bring drugs into Canada.