Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 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: Laurel Andrews

FROM DOOBIE DEPOT TO MOOD SOLUTIONS, HERE ARE ALASKA'S FIRST 
MARIJUANA BUSINESS APPLICANTS

 From Herbal Outfitters LLC to Dazed Dog Gardens, there's no shortage 
of creative and pun-laden business names in the nearly 200 marijuana 
business licenses that are currently working through the state 
system, which were released Tuesday.

The public can now see all the in-progress marijuana business 
applications on the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office's website. 
For businesses that are far enough along in their applications, a 
public notice is also linked in the spreadsheet that provides the 
name of the owner and the exact location of the business, according 
to Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office Director Cynthia Franklin.

Alaskans have chosen a wide range of names to represent their 
potential cannabis businesses. Some are obvious plays off of 
marijuana or its effects: names like Calm n Collective, Leafy 
Enterprise LLC and Cannaceuticals.

Others are not so obviously cannabis-related, like Permafrost 
Distributors, Alaska Precision and Wolverine LLC.

Babette Miller, co-owner of Doobie Depot, said her husband Louis 
Miller came up with their business name while they were brainstorming 
one day. "I didn't like it at first and then it grew on me and now I 
really like it."

Although they applied on the very first day, Miller said she and her 
husband would likely not be going through with a retail license in 
Anchorage after all.

Between the additional regulations and fees put in place in the 
municipality, and federal taxes, the business venture just didn't 
pencil out, Miller said Tuesday.

If the couple does decide to open a marijuana business, it would be a 
cultivation facility farther north, in the Fairbanks North Star 
Borough, where there are fewer regulations and fees in place. Even 
then, Miller said, the business could be "a wash," but they would at 
least get their foot in the door as the industry starts.

In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Green Degree owner Kerby Coman is 
moving forward with his plans to open a retail store and limited 
cultivation facility.

"We plan on being ready and opening doors, I believe September the 
9th," Coman said from Wasilla Tuesday.

"I ran through a lot of names with my fiancee ... Green Degree just 
stuck," Coman said of the business name. They wanted a name with 
"green" in it, and Green Degree could have different meanings, giving 
them options when working out a logo, Coman said.

On Tuesday, Coman was working on renovations to a building he has 
leased just outside of Wasilla city limits.

The borough will vote in October whether to ban commercial marijuana, 
but Coman is moving forward regardless. It's "something to consider, 
but I'm not worried about it," he said.

Statewide, a total of 195 licenses are in process, with none 
completed so far, the list shows. Some businesses are applying for 
multiple license types. A few of the businesses have two applications 
in for the same license type.

Alaskans can apply for four different license types: Cultivation, 
retail, testing and manufacturing. There are subcategories within 
cultivation and manufacturing licenses -- for instance, one can apply 
for either a standard cultivation license, with unlimited growing 
space, or a limited license, with 500 feet or less of growing space.

So far, applications for standard cultivation licenses are the most 
common. Testing facilities are the least common, with only three 
applications in as of Tuesday morning. Going forward, the state will 
update the list every two weeks, Franklin wrote in an email.

The Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office began accepting marijuana 
license applications on Feb. 24. The office reported that 68 licenses 
were started on the first day.

Once completed, all licenses must be approved by the Marijuana 
Control Board. Cultivation and testing facilities will be approved 
first, likely at the board's early June meeting, according to an 
updated timeline released last month. Retail and manufacturing stores 
are slated to be approved in September, with the rationale being that 
the state's first legal commercial crops must be grown before 
consumers can actually purchase marijuana.

The list of applications is another step forward in the state's move 
toward a commercial marijuana industry: last week the office 
announced it had signed a five-year contract with a company that will 
track every single commercial marijuana plant in Alaska. Meanwhile 
local governments across Alaska are making their own rules regarding cannabis.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom