Pubdate: Wed, 18 Feb 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Michelle Theriault Boots

RECOMMENDATIONS OFFER WINDOW INTO ALASKA POLICYMAKERS' THOUGHTS ON LEGAL POT

A new set of recommendations from the state regulatory agency charged 
with managing legal marijuana offers a window into what policymakers 
are currently thinking about how Alaska's nascent pot industry should run.

Staffers of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control division prepared 
the report, called "Preliminary Considerations for Implementation of 
AS 17.38," said Cynthia Franklin, the head of the agency. The ABC 
Board endorsed its release, she said.

The recommendations, which lean heavily on the experience of Colorado 
in regulating a commercial pot industry, cover everything from 
serving sizes of marijuana edibles to local control.

The Feb. 12 memo is intended to "to provide a common frame of 
reference, identify major policy issues and where feasible, make 
recommendations as to implementation and policy decisions."

Among the recommendations in the report:

No distinction should be made between marijuana sold for medical use 
vs. recreational use. "Differentiating between medical and 
recreational marijuana has caused many regulatory issues for the 
states that have done so," the report says.

Separate licenses for cultivation, manufacturing, retail sales and 
testing laboratories should be issued.

Alaska should make the recommended serving size for marijuana edibles 
5 milligrams of active THC, with a maximum of 50 milligrams per 
package, which is half of what Washington allows.

The state should ban the sale of "adulterated" products, where a 
ready-to-eat product such as a candy bar is sprayed with a marijuana 
concentrate, repackaged and sold as a marijuana "infused" product. 
"Colorado's most contentious marijuana edibles would be unsellable in 
Alaska markets by making this statutory change," the report says.

Marijuana should be "removed from the controlled substances schedule" 
entirely, to "be truly regulated like alcohol."

Packaged marijuana products should carry an easily recognizable 
symbol and childproof packaging should be required.

The state should emulate current options for local control of alcohol 
that would offer communities around the state the ability to set 
their own rules for marijuana.

Further documents including a report on a state delegation to a 
Colorado conference on pot regulation can also be found on the website.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom