Alaska orders Anchorage marijuana club to shut down

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Marijuana businesses in Anchorage, Alaska, have for years now been pushing the envelope of what’s acceptable by state regulators, and recently they got another answer on one thing that’s not: cannabis social clubs.

The only club in Anchorage, Pot Luck Events, which has been operational since 2015, was ordered to close by the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office (AMCO), which said the business was illegal and was risking the wrath of the U.S. Department of Justice, TV station KTUU reported.

The club was in violation of five state codes, AMCO wrote in a letter to Pot Luck Events, and said that because it’s operating illegally, it could “attract unwanted attention from federal authorities.”

The state’s Marijuana Control Board has been going back and forth for months over whether to allow social use cannabis clubs and, if so, how to regulate them.

That means a workable business model for marijuana lounges in Alaska – and other states – may still emerge. If that happens, Pot Luck Events will be quick to reopen, its manager told KTUU.

“This is a retreat, not a surrender,” the manager said.