Pubdate: Sat, 16 Jan 2016
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2016 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Devin Kelly

DRAFT ANCHORAGE MARIJUANA LICENSE RULES BAN MARIJUANA USE IN RETAIL STORES

A ban on marijuana bars and social clubs and random marijuana testing 
for pesticides or other harmful substances at retail stores are among 
the more contentious elements of Anchorage's draft cannabis business 
license regulations released this week.

Anchorage officials have been developing a local license for 
marijuana businesses as a way to give local government more control 
over enforcement. But industry leaders have said a local license 
would be redundant to a state license and overly burdensome, and have 
promised to fight it in the coming weeks.

The first draft of the licensing regulations emerged at a Thursday 
meeting of the Anchorage Assembly's marijuana regulation committee. 
Most of the regulations are copied directly from proposed state 
regulations. But, unlike the state regulations, the proposed 
Anchorage rules explicitly bar business owners from allowing people 
to buy marijuana at a retail store and consume it on the premises.

Related: Alaska board OKs marijuana use in retail pot shops Read the 
draft Anchorage marijuana licensing regulations

Marijuana social clubs, where customers bring their own marijuana 
products to consume, aren't permitted under either the proposed state 
or Anchorage regulations.

Assembly member Ernie Hall, who chairs the committee on marijuana 
regulation, said he doubted the on-site consumption ban would 
ultimately remain in the regulations.

"It's much better to have something in the ordinance that we 
introduce, and amend it to take it out," rather than try to insert 
the provision at the last minute, Hall said.

The proposed licensing regulations also create a way for the city 
health department to require retail marijuana stores to provide 
samples of marijuana products for testing "at any time and without 
notice." The testing may look for pesticides, molds, metals or 
harmful chemicals, according to the regulations. The draft 
regulations include a table on contamination thresholds for nearly 60 
types of pesticides.

The retail store will bear the cost of the laboratory testing, said 
Steve Morris, deputy director of the city's Department of Health and 
Human Services.

Morris said state regulations do not allow for city health officials 
to pull cannabis products off a retail shelf and check for contamination.

Both the on-site consumption ban and health department testing 
quickly sparked controversy within the local marijuana industry. 
Theresa Collins -- co-owner of Pot Luck Events, which is billed as a 
pot-friendly private event location -- said the ban could have 
unintended consequences.

"They're trying to take away the safe consumption location for our 
customers to use," Collins said. "What I see happening is a lot more 
public consumption, which I think is a public safety concern."

She also said pesticide testing would "place a lot of undue cost" on retailers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom