Alaskan fans of cannabis are another step closer to being able to pick up the drug from their own neighborhood dispensaries.
Earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott filed marijuana establishment regulations in accordance with state statute. The regulations filing comes after the Marijuana Control Board (MCB) adopted the regulations package in November, which was subsequently approved by the Alaska Department of Law.
A year prior, 57 percent of Wrangellites had joined other Alaska voters in allowing the regulated cultivation and sale of marijuana. After the November 2014 referendum, it fell on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) to devise and adopt the rules necessary to implement that decision. In preparation for the transition, last summer the MCB was spun off from the ABC to regulate the drug and this month their administrative office was reorganized as the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.
Starting with a six-page list of preliminary considerations, the board put together a comprehensive regulations package which it sent along to the Department of Law for review. The department reviewed the board’s regulations for their legality, constitutionality and consistency with other regulations, checked for the accuracy of its citations and its clarity, and ensured it complied with the administrative procedure act regulations drafting manual.
Of the 127 pages submitted for review, the department approved all licensure requirements and procedures for marijuana establishments with the exception of certain text regarding national criminal history record checks and the subsections regarding alternative means of testing.
The regulations are set to take effect Feb. 21, at which point the MCB must begin accepting commercial license applications and act on them within 90 days. Under the new regulations, an annual license fee for a marijuana retailer will be $5,000. Licensing for a marijuana cultivation or product manufacturing facility also costs $5,000, while one for a limited marijuana cultivation facility or an extract-only manufacturing facility is $1,000.
The Marijuana Control Board is not limited in the number of marijuana licenses it can issue at the state level. However, the regulations give local governments latitude to restrict the time, place, manner and number of marijuana licenses operating within their jurisdictions.
Licensing applications must be submitted electronically in order for applicants to demonstrate their capability to submit data and documentation electronically. All marijuana licensees are required to use the state’s online marijuana inventory tracking system.
In addition to licensing for a business, a three-year handler permit is required for anyone engaged in the sale, cultivation, manufacture, testing or transport of marijuana and products derived from it. Even checking customers’ IDs at the door requires one to hold a permit. The fee for a marijuana handler permit card is $50.
To obtain a handler permit, a person must complete a board-approved education course, pass a written test and obtain a certificate of course completion from the course provider.
A full copy of the state’s marijuana regulations can be reviewed online at http://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/9/pub/FinalRegsThrough12-1-15.pdf.
At the local level, just how pot cultivation and sales will unfold will vary from one community to the next. The Ketchikan Daily News reported its local council had narrowly voted against a ban on commercial marijuana retailers in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough on Jan. 21. The proposed ordinance had been on its second reading, after moving ahead from a tied vote earlier this month.
Petersburg’s assembly on Jan. 4 issued a resolution requesting the Department of Law revise its 500-foot setback provision. The city may be taking up a marijuana ordinance draft of its own when it meets next month.
In Wrangell, the Borough Assembly last March passed an ordinance prohibiting the consumption of marijuana in “public places.”
According to Municipal Code, this includes any place to which “the public or a substantial group of persons has access,” and includes streets, highways, sidewalks, alleys, transportation facilities, parking areas, convention centers, sports arenas, schools, places of business, parks, playgrounds and jails. Further than that, the ordinance also bans consumption of the drug “outdoors on private property adjacent to a public place, and without consent of the owner or person in control thereof.” The ban also considers hallways, lobbies, doorways, and other portions of apartment houses and hotels as public spaces.
A sister ordinance was also passed, changing marijuana-related offenses to a finable infraction. Under the ordinance a person flouting local rules can be punished by a $100 fine for each offense, as listed in the amended fine schedule, “or by a fine of up to $500.00 if the offense is not listed.”
So far the Wrangell Police Department hasn’t had to issue any fines for pot-related infractions.
“I’m not really worried about it,” explained Chief Doug McCloskey. Generally the department’s view is that marijuana users keep activity in the house, and try not to make a nuisance of themselves.
“There’ll always be a few that can’t figure it out,” McCloskey said, but for most people it has not been a problem.
Because there is a lot of information to digest, the city will be hosting the head of the MCB at the Nolan Center on March 1. A public presentation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. to explain what the state’s regulations will mean for Wrangell, how local ordinances factor in, and where zoning would allow for the operation of licensed marijuana businesses.
“There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding as far as what you can and can’t do,” explained Carol Rushmore, director for economic development. Among them are the damocletian civil and criminal issues hanging over the heads of potential pot distributors and growers, as the federal government still considers the drug a schedule I controlled substance. How seeds, leaves and materials can be conveyed on and off the island through multiple jurisdictions is just one of the issues for Southeast communities.
“It’s very interesting how it’s going to be implemented and enforced,” said Rushmore. “Some communities are leaving it strictly to the zoning, others are being more stringent. It kind of varies community to community as far as what they can do.”
She explained the inclusion of marijuana-related businesses in Wrangell’s economy is currently subject to zoning, as the Assembly decided to hold off on placing any additional restrictions until the state had finalized its own regulations. Rushmore will prepare a map for the Planning and Zoning Commission showing which parts of the city would allow for such activities, to be presented at its next meeting.
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