Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jul 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

MARIJUANA TEST LABS MOVE FORWARD IN JUNEAU, BRINGING HOPE TO GROWERS

One of the last pieces of the puzzle may soon be in place for 
Juneau's marijuana industry.

Marijuana testing facilities are moving forward in Alaska's capital, 
welcome news for Juneau's growers and manufacturers, who will see a 
small part of their risk melt away with the presence of local labs.

"We just saw the need and thought it would be a great venture," said 
Jessica Dreibelbis, manager of Southeast Alaska Laboratories LLC, 
which hopes to receive its local conditional-use permit at the end of July.

Under Alaska law, all cannabis must be tested by a state-licensed 
lab. But so far, only two labs have been approved and they're both in 
Anchorage.

For growers separated from those labs by sea and air  including all 
of Southeast  an additional risk comes into play: If businesses ship 
their product in the mail, via airplane or aboard a ship, they will 
be breaking federal law.

Whether federal agencies would actually enforce the law is an open 
question. Alaska's entire industry goes against federal law, the 
state's Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office director, Cynthia 
Franklin, has noted.

Still, in Juneau, some concern has arisen, according to City Planner 
Chrissy Steadman.

"They didn't want to cross into any gray areas," she said of 
marijuana businesses. When the labs started moving forward, "there 
was definitely a lot of relief."

Four more state license applications are in the works, two more in 
Southcentral, and two in Juneau - Southeast Alaska Labs and a 
brand-new application for Juneau Cannabis Testing Labs. That's 
compared to nearly 200 cultivation applications.

Dreibelbis' lab is backed by five other Southeast investors. At the 
end of April, the group got together to see if the lab would pencil 
out, and moved forward from there, Dreibelbis said.

She's already hired a scientific director  a state requirement for 
the labs, which requires substantial lab experience - and is in the 
midst of applying for a state license.

"Everything is just really falling into place nicely," Dreibelbis said.

For Dreibelbis, the concerns about shipping are real. Her lab won't 
accept any mailed or shipped marijuana samples.

"Negative, no way. There's no way I could test it and sign off on 
it," Dreibelbis said.

"Unless for some reason the federal law makes an exception. But as of 
now, I would rather keep my license and do things legally than risk 
it for a couple samples," she said.

The lab will have a ground courier service, picking up samples from 
each of its clients.

As testing businesses emerge, owners are adopting different 
strategies around risks in the fledgling industry. CannTest LLC in 
Anchorage was the first cannabis business to be approved for a state 
license. CEO Mark Malagodi told the Marijuana Control Board during a 
June 9 meeting that he would accept marijuana mailed to the lab.

"I will take this approach ... until I am told by the Postal Service 
that cannabis companies are not allowed to work in the same manner as 
state drug facilities," Malagodi said in a later email, referencing 
the Alaska State Crime Lab, which mails samples of controlled 
substances as part of the forensic process.

For Paul Disdier, who hopes to open Juneau growing facility The 
Fireweed Factory LLC, the presence of a lab is welcome news.

"It eliminates a lot of the headache, and it's just going to make it 
much easier to do business because this, so far, has not been an easy 
business," Disdier said.

Still, he wasn't worried about having to ship his marijuana samples.

"I figured that the U.S. government wouldn't want to waste their time 
breaking into tiny little packages," Disdier said.

A third lab, Glacier Analytics, is also moving forward, the Juneau 
Empire reported last week. Co-owner Mitch Knottingham told the Empire 
that he and his wife had wanted to get into the industry for a while, 
and setting up a lab made sense for both them and the community.

Glacier Analytics hasn't applied for a city license yet, Steadman 
said, and it is not listed on the state's website of applications. 
Attempts to reach the Knottinghams were not successful.

Southeast Alaska Laboratories won't purchase its equipment until it 
gets approval from the city, Dreibelbis said. Once its Juneau 
operations are in place, the company will look into opening locations 
in other Southeast communities, like Sitka and Ketchikan.

The lab will go before the city planning department on July 26.

"We don't anticipate there being a whole lot of concerns with these 
facilities," Steadman said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom