Alaska to Revisit Marijuana Residency Requirement

After loosening residency rules last week for the state’s upcoming recreational marijuana industry, the Alaska Marijuana Control Board has now decided to take up the issue once again.

Under new rules adopted last week, an entrepreneur who wants to fulfill the residency requirement to own a marijuana business in Alaska just has to qualify for voter registration. That means simply living in Alaska, having a physical address and not being registered to vote in any other state – nothing more.

A non-resident could therefore conceivably fly in, find a place to live and immediately start a rec business.

Board members are worried that those rules are too lax, and they will therefore discuss residency requirements again at their next meeting on Dec. 1.

The rules adopted last week significantly loosened the original requirements, under which marijuana business owners would have had to provide employment or school documentation and vehicle registration information. Entrepreneurs also would’ve had to have spent a certain number of days in the state, according to the Alaska Dispatch News.