JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska has become the third U.S. state to legalize marijuana. But the historic day passed with little public acknowledgment in a state with a savvy marijuana culture that has seen varying degrees of legal acceptance of the drug for 40 years.

Supporters said Tuesday marked a milestone, comparing it to the end of Prohibition. But unlike in Colorado and Washington state, there were no street parties and public smoking displays in Alaska’s biggest cities.

Dolly Fleck-Phelps, a Kenai resident with an ancillary marijuana business, said she thought people would look back on the day as a turning point for Alaska. “Absolutely this is history in the making,” Fleck-Phelps said. “This is the opening of the door. Now it’s time for the real work to begin.”

Legalization marked the end of a 43-year political battle for Bill Parker, 70.

The Anchorage man, who was listed as a sponsor of the initiative, first banded together with a group of young Democrats elected to the state House of Representatives to introduce a legalization bill in 1972.

Parker’s hopes for legal weed dwindled as he saw Alaska become more Republican and more conservative over the years. He said perhaps the marijuana vote marks the end of that pendulum swing.

Now that pot is legal, Parker plans to meet with other initiative backers for laid-back celebrations this evening. “I think there’ll be marijuana, and I think for the first time people won’t have to feel like criminals when they use it,” Parker said.

The Alaska Supreme Court in 1975 said personal marijuana possession was protected under the state constitution’s right-to-privacy clause. In 1998, voters legalized medicinal marijuana. But over the years, state lawmakers twice criminalized any possession, creating an odd legal limbo, and never created rules for medical marijuana dispensaries to operate.