FAIRBANKS -- The biggest change in the semi-legal status of marijuana in Alaska in 40 years goes into effect in less than three months.

Lighting up in public will remain illegal and subject to a fine of up to $100, but as of Feb. 24, it will be OK under state law for adults to possess or transport an ounce of marijuana and to consume marijuana in private.

"What the law is very clear about is no consuming in public. That's going to be against the law. We don't know yet what 'public' is going to be," Fairbanks North Star Borough Assistant Attorney Wendy Doxey told elected officials and the public in an overview of the new law this week.

She said the definition of "public" is among the points that could be clarified by local or state regulations in the months to come. Others have said the same rules that apply to drinking in public would fit the bill.

In public or private, marijuana use will remain a violation of federal law, but the Obama administration has signaled that it will not challenge state legalization laws.

In 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court declared that the constitutional right to privacy allowed adults to have small amounts of marijuana in the home. A 2004 decision confirmed that protection.

Even so, state laws have long made possession of any amount of marijuana a crime. Marijuana was legal in the home, but there was no legal way to get it into the home.

That contradiction is to end in February following voter approval Nov. 4 of the initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana. The measure won approval by a 53 percent majority statewide, with strong majorities in the Fairbanks area opting for legalization.

Borough Assembly Presiding Officer Karl Kassel said he called the session of three local governments this week because he hopes to begin planning a unified approach in response to the new marijuana law.

Most of the local government elected officials from the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole attended the meeting, as did nearly 100 members of the public.

One option for local governments is to prohibit marijuana establishments, which could lead to stores in some jurisdictions but not in others. Local governments could also take steps to regulate hours of operation, the location and the number of stores, a route that Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said he intends to pursue through a zoning ordinance.

State regulations dealing with various aspects of the pot business are due to be drafted and implemented over the next year and a half.

Under the initiative, local governments cannot prohibit the personal use of marijuana or restrict personal use inside the home.

Adults will be allowed to grow six plants at a time on private property, as long as the crop is not visible with the naked eye from beyond the premises, Doxey said.

"Personal cultivation is not allowed to be in public view without an optical aid such as binoculars," Doxey said. In addition to being out of sight, the plants have to be secured from unauthorized access, she said.

Adults will be allowed to give—not sell—up to an ounce and up to six immature pot plants to another adult.

"Anything over 1 ounce and over six plants is still going to be illegal. And potentially still going to be illegal at the same criminal level that we see now," she said,

One exception to that, she said, is that those who are growing up to six plants at a time are allowed to keep what they grow.

"People will be allowed to harvest their plants and keep the harvest as long as it's in the same location as where they grew the plant. So, potentially that would lead to more than 1 ounce that's authorized," she said.

On the day that pot is legalized, the clock will begin ticking on the nine-month period in which the state is to write regulations to clarify what needs clarifying, she said.

Person-to-person sales of pot will remain illegal under the law, but by the middle of 2016, the measure envisions that commercial stores will be in operation where people can purchase marijuana.