Pubdate: Sat, 28 Nov 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14

MARIJUANA CLUB OPENS IN FAIRBANKS, AND THE OWNERS SAY IT'S LEGAL

FAIRBANKS (AP) - A marijuana club that allows consumption but not 
sales quietly opened this week in Fairbanks, and its owners say they 
are operating within state law.

Coffee and doughnuts were out for customers at The Higher Calling 
Club, which opened Monday in a remodeled former wine bar downtown, 
the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Patrons could sit on 
overstuffed couches or use a foosball table.

"We're going to have the whole cafe feel to it is what we're looking 
for," said Marcus Mooers, who owns the business with his wife, Megan. 
"As you can see, we're trying really hard not to just run some kind 
of stoner slum house."

Club members can smoke pot or eat pot-infused foods but cannot buy or 
sell marijuana inside the building. The cost to join is $10 per day 
or $25 per month.

Alaska voters in 2014 approved recreational use of marijuana and the 
state Marijuana Control Board said retail pot shop licenses will be 
granted starting in May. Mooers, however, said his business is legal 
because no pot will be sold on the premises and it is not a business 
prohibited by the 2014 law.

"This is America," he said. "The law doesn't get to tell us what we 
can do, it tells us what we can't do. There is no law that says we 
can't do this."

Last week, the Alaska Marijuana Control Board voted to allow for 
marijuana consumption at some pot shops when they open.

The board scrapped a proposed regulation banning marijuana clubs. 
Board chairman Bruce Schulte at the time said the intent was not to 
sanction or endorse the clubs. He said if the board has no authority 
under the initiative to regulate the clubs, as an attorney for the 
board stated, it also could not prohibit them.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom