Alaska regulators quash first application for on-site marijuana consumption

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Alaska regulators rejected a cannabis retailer’s application to permit customers to consume marijuana on the store’s premises, delivering a setback to the industry’s first attempt to win approval for on-site consumption.

The Marijuana Control Board voted 2-2 on the application request from The Fairbanks Cut, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Approval requires a majority decision.

If the application had been approved, The Fairbanks Cut would have been the first retailer in Alaska to be approved for on-site consumption, according to the newspaper.

Lily Bosshart, one of the owners of The Fairbanks Cut, plans to appeal the decision, the newspaper reported.

At the board meeting, regulators grappled with how to interpret rules allowing on-site consumption, which the state approved in March, according to the newspaper.

An issue in the case is whether Fairbanks Cut is a “free-standing” establishment, as required under the rules, as it shares the building with another business, the Daily News reported.

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