Pubdate: Thu, 13 Aug 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Column: Highly Informed
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: Scott Woodham

WHAT'S THE STATUS OF ALASKA'S RULES ON CANNABIS CONCENTRATES?

Well, Alaska's Marijuana Control Board has released the third package 
of proposed regulations and held meetings in Anchorage on Monday and 
Tuesday. Regulators heard feedback and discussed the rules taking 
shape for Alaska's legal cannabis industry. Today, we'll look at a 
question related to some of those rules under development.

"Fishboy from Juneau" asks: "Will extracts like BHO (Butane Hash Oil) 
and shatter be available for us Alaskans? What do the laws look like 
surrounding concentrates?"

It appears at this point that, yes, concentrates like those will be 
available for Alaskans once the licenses to produce, test and sell 
them are granted. But some discussion remains before the final rules 
take shape, and no one's been licensed yet. As we've learned 
previously, home production of concentrates for personal use is 
restricted in several localities to non-solvent-based extraction 
methods that lack the potential for fire or explosion, so 
recreational consumers will have to wait for the legal availability 
of the sophisticated products Fishboy identifies.

There have been scattered unsuccessful local efforts to prohibit 
concentrates, and proposed local option rules would provide some 
control for individual towns to match their own preference about what 
business license types to allow, but efforts to bar legally available 
concentrates don't appear to be progressing at at the statewide level 
at this time. But the legislative process is active and ongoing and 
that may change.

Last legislative session, the Alaska Senate rejected a House 
amendment to SB 30 that would have banned concentrates starting in 
2017. That bill passed the Senate and is awaiting House consideration.

There's also House Bill 59, which now proposes legislative intent 
language that would delay allowing the sale and manufacture of 
cannabis concentrates until no later than Nov. 24, 2016. That bill, 
which received criticism upon being introduced, is currently referred 
to the House Judiciary Committee in revised form.

As things stand now (even though unlicensed manufacture of 
concentrates by certain methods is barred by ordinance in much of 
Alaska), the laws do allow for adults over 21 to give each other up 
to 1 ounce of concentrate. In terms of allowable quantity for 
cannabis, the authorities have been using the in-home possession 
limit set by the court precedent in Noy v. State, which stands at 4 
ounces. Because of the way the initiative defined marijuana to 
include concentrates, it would stand to reason that the same limit 
would include concentrates as well as flowers.

Generally speaking, though, limits on in-home personal possession 
constitute a tangled, living legal thicket because of apparent 
conflicts between statutes approved by the ballot measure and 
previously existing court precedent. But when it comes to 
personal-use in the privacy of one's own home, authorities have 
repeatedly said they look at a totality of circumstances and that 
their main goal is to target illicit sales.

To my knowledge, there is no current proposal to remove concentrates 
from the definition of marijuana instituted by the initiative. There 
is, however, one revision to it proposed in one of the rules packages 
released by the Alcoholic Control Board and the MCB. That item would 
more explicitly define the term "marijuana concentrate" to mean 
"resin, oil, wax, or any other substance produced by extracting or 
isolating cannabinoids, THC, or other components from the marijuana 
plant or harvest thereof."

That's a pretty wide definition that still appears to allow for 
regulation of all manner of possible commercial concentrates. Plus, 
it would not remove concentrates from the main definition, just 
specify what a concentrate is within the existing definition of 
marijuana. So, unless the Legislature decides to approve that delay 
or go beyond it in some other piece of legislation, it appears that 
the answer is yes. Provisions are being established that will allow 
Alaskans access to commercially produced concentrates.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom