Alaska officials to take another look at public cannabis consumption

The Alaska Marijuana Control Board voted 4-1 to revive a proposal to allow and regulate on-site cannabis consumption at cannabis retail stores.

Tuesday’s vote was an about-face from a Feb. 2 meeting in which the board rejected a public consumption plan.

Board member Brandon Emmett floated a motion to restart the effort, while board members who helped kill the proposal last month threw their support behind a second try, according to Alaska Dispatch News.

Board members noted there is already a regulation, albeit vaguely written, that would permit public consumption spaces. Plus, at least five marijuana retailers included public consumption areas in their business plans.

Those plans were OK’d, but whether the approvals covered the consumption areas remains at issue.

The board plans to open the on-site consumption topic to public comment and present a new draft over the summer, the Dispatch News reported.

In other action:

• The board decided to reverse another February decision that would have prohibited growers and retailers from rolling joints. As long as nothing is added to the marijuana, pre-rolls are considered packaging, according to the Dispatch News.
• The board was informed that the Marijuana Control Office is understaffed because a license examiner had quit, leaving the program with only one well-trained examiner.