Pubdate: Thu, 28 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: Carl Bartenstein

STATE WON'T ALLOW ORGANIC LABEL ON POT, BUT PUBLIC WANTS TO KNOW

The Marijuana Control Board has released a big set of requirements 
and procedures. If you're interested in reading them, you can find 
them by snooping around a little bit on the Alaska state website - 
it's under "Online Public Notices."

I was skimming through and something caught my eye. On about page 74, 
it is stated that a marijuana product may not be labeled as organic. 
I'm not sure why this regulation is in place. Anyone who cultivates 
cannabis to sell is required to report what nutrients and grow 
mediums are used in the cultivation process, so it would be quite 
easy for the authorities to determine that something is truly 
organic. What's the deal?

There will inevitably be cannabis consumers in the near future who 
want bud grown in nice organic compost with all-natural fertilizers 
instead of bud grown with some other kind of inorganic plant food. 
It's not all that different from someone who will not drink a Coors 
Light but will gladly down a pint of their favorite craft brew.

So what is the cannabis cultivator allowed to do to market their 
organic and fair-trade product to the people who want it? If they 
aren't allowed to up and say "organic," can they say "free of 
inorganic nutrients and fertilizers," or, "grown in Alaskan compost"? 
Really though, I'd like to understand why there is a regulation 
against simply saying "organic."

- - Carl Bartenstein

Anchorage
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom