The first customer at Arctic Herbery, which on Thursday became the first store in Anchorage to sell consumable marijuana, wasn't planning to smoke the cannabis she bought.

Anna Ercoli got to the shop around 8 a.m, she said. She was given a ticket to hold her place at the front of the line, so she didn't have to wait for hours in the cold. And at noon, she bought 2.5 grams of the strain Afghani Kush, surrounded by a swarm of reporters in a quick transaction at the small shop on Arctic Boulevard.

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A state government that's already lost hundreds of jobs this year is grappling with how to balance that with the workload that comes with the emergence of an entirely new industry: marijuana.

Some Alaska municipalities have a plethora of questions about rules for new marijuana businesses - how to measure the distance from a business to a church? What types of signs can entrepreneurs have? - and the state's Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office doesn't have the time or resources to answer every one. Meanwhile, the digital paperwork for new marijuana business applications just keeps rolling in.

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We understand why there are concerns about legalizing marijuana, but the fears are misplaced. There is a lot of misinformation.

People with a political agenda have been lying about cannabis for quite some time. Studies have shown cannabis is safer than alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana use has never been linked to cancer, and it is physically impossible to overdose.

The "gateway drug" myth is persuasive but untrue. Most hard drug users' first drug was alcohol or tobacco. While it is generally true that users of dangerous narcotics such as heroin and meth have used marijuana in the past, few who have tried marijuana go on to use hard drugs.

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Alaska's attorney general has weighed in on whether or not marijuana social clubs unlicensed venues where people consume cannabis, which sprang up in the aftermath of Alaska's vote to legalize marijuana - are legal.

"The answer is no," Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth wrote in a Wednesday opinion.

The 14-page document is addressed to Chris Hladick, commissioner of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, who requested the legal opinion.

"If that place is not a licensed retail marijuana store, consuming marijuana there is unlawful," Jahna Lindemuth, Alaska attorney general, wrote in the opinion.

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Not a single gram of legal marijuana has yet been sold in Alaska, but some bank accounts tied to people in the emerging cannabis industry are already being shut down.

Citing strict federal laws around cannabis, Alaska USA Federal Credit Union has stopped doing business with an undisclosed number of people linked to marijuana businesses; Credit Union 1 has also closed down at least one account, company officials confirmed.

Cole Hollister, co-owner of Fairbanks-based cultivation facility Pakalolo Supply Co. Inc., got a letter in July notifying him his personal account with Alaska USA was being shut down.

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PALMER - Kim Whitaker took the story of her anguish over her daughter's ongoing battle with heroin addiction straight to the U.S. surgeon general.

Dr. Vivek Murthy was a key participant at a high-powered opioid summit convened by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, at Mat-Su College Thursday. The summit aimed to bring federal officials up to speed on the challenges Alaska faces in combating heroin and prescription painkiller abuse.

Whitaker told about 500 people at the Glenn Massay Theater that her daughter became addicted to heroin after a doctor prescribed her opiates at 19.

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Although the initiative to prohibit marijuana business in the Fairbanks North Star Borough outside of cities will not appear on this October's ballot, there are issues that still remain very problematic. In addition, Mr. Travis Fraser's community perspective of July 17, "Marijuana petition seeks to overturn voters' wishes," deserves a response.

On Nov. 4, 2014, statewide voters adopted Proposition 2, which provided for the legalization and commercialization of marijuana in Alaska. The vote was 53 percent in favor and 47 percent against. How that result was arrived at should be of concern to all Alaskans. Those Alaskans opposing Prop. 2 spent a total of $267,612 to defeat it. The other side, supporting Prop. 2, included two powerful drug advocacy groups based in Washington, D.C.: Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance. They contributed $855,350 to promote the passage of Prop. 2. How much support for this issue was mobilized with $855,350?

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Alaska law now explicitly defines how many personal-use cannabis plants a household can have, doubling the number of plants assumed legal under the state marijuana board's definition.

Up to 12 plants per household are now legal under state law - if at least two adults over the age of 21 are living in the residence.

The language was included in House Bill 75, which passed the Legislature in May. It was signed into law Thursday by Gov. Bill Walker and took effect Friday.

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The Alaska State Fair has no plans to include cannabis judging in its annual lineup this year, a fair official said Thursday, but it expects to take a "serious look" at the possibility in the future.

Responding to a report in Oregon Live that the Oregon State Fair will, for the first time, include prize-winning cannabis plants as an attraction, Dean Phipps, director of marketing and communications for the Alaska State Fair, said the state's own annual event isn't following suit, at least for now.

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The Anchorage Assembly approved the city's first commercial marijuana grow Tuesday night, a significant step forward for the developing legal cannabis industry.

"This whole green revolution, it starts here tonight with the City of Anchorage," said Assemblyman Dick Traini who voted to approve the local marijuana license and special-use permit for Dream Green Farms and to refer the application for a second proposed commercial marijuana grow, Arctic Herbery, to an Assembly committee for additional review after a flurry of late-night debate.

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Fairbanks voters won't decide this year whether to ban commercial marijuana.

Sponsors of two petitions, one for the city of Fairbanks and the other for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, both missed their deadlines to put the question of banning commercial marijuana on the October ballot, saying they hadn't gathered enough signatures in time.

Both sponsors said they plan to continue collecting signatures to bring the question to voters in 2017.

Vivian Stiver, sponsor for the city of Fairbanks petition, said her group came about 170 signatures short of the 519 required by a July 19 deadline. She said they began collecting signatures only three weeks before the deadline.

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"Smoking cannabis is safe" (Letters, July 15):

Cannabis is a drug. Like all drugs, its use can be problematic. Fed studies show about 9 percent of users become addicted. It is not a play toy. I would give it the same rules and respect as a beer.

- - Detective Officer Howard 'Cowboy' Wooldridge,

Retired

Buckeystown, Maryland

[end]

I would like to answer Patricia's question. She asks, is marijuana a safe smoking product? The answer is yes. Compared to tobacco and most other substances, cannabis is safe to smoke. It does not cause cancer and even has some preventative properties.

- - Dave Lane

Santa Cruz, California

[end]

I am very much dismayed about the proposed cafe regulation. Didn't we just ban all smoking in restaurants and bars? Didn't we decide that smoking was harmful to your health? Is marijuana a safe smoking product?

We have banned tobacco and e-cigarettes and now will allow smoking again. If a person wants to smoke marijuana, do it in private just as those who use tobacco do.

NO on marijuana cafes.

- - Patricia Smith

Anchorage

[end]

Alaska hasn't yet begun collecting taxes on commercial marijuana, but the state has already allocated half of the expected revenue from legal pot.

On Monday, Gov. Bill Walker signed Senate Bill 91, a comprehensive criminal reform bill meant to reduce the state's prison population and its associated costs. Included in the bill is a provision that diverts half of the state's cannabis excise taxes to programs aimed at reducing repeat criminal offenders, under a newly created recidivism reduction fund.

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At the Alaska Marijuana Control Board meeting in Fairbanks this week, 31 marijuana licenses were up for consideration. Among them, the owner of Anchorage's Bernie's Bungalow Lounge downtown, who received state approval Friday to begin growing cannabis.

Bernie Souphanavong started selling microgreens in the 1980s, he said Friday. A few years ago, he passed the operation on to S.J. Klein. But now the space where microgreens grow will house commercial marijuana plants.

"It's just like growing tomatoes or anything else," he said of cannabis.

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Specifics of Alaska's marijuana bars remain on the table, as the state Marijuana Control Board voted Thursday to send draft rules governing the proposed bars back for public comment, with only one minor tweak.

"It is proving to be one of the more high-interest regulatory projects that we've had," board member Mark Springer said during Thursday's meeting. "There's a lot of public concern about this; there's a lot of support for it."

Initial draft rules were approved in May. Retail stores would apply for a separate license for the "on-site consumption area," akin to a bar or cafe, where customers could use marijuana.

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A new group has popped up in opposition to a ballot measure that would ban commercial cannabis in Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Borough if approved by voters in October.

M ThunderFund Inc. - a play on the infamous Alaska marijuana strain - filed independent expenditure reports with the state Wednesday in support of a campaign dubbed "Save The Mat-Su."

The company, owned by Tel White and Peter Zell, was created to oppose local marijuana bans, first in the Mat-Su, but also in other parts of Alaska and the U.S., White said Thursday.

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To Keith Crocker, it's clear marijuana could be the logical next step in pushing Juneau's tourism industry to a higher level.

That's why he and business partner Mitchell Knottingham created Juneau Cannabis Tours.

Their idea - to give tours of Alaska's new marijuana industry in action - is a glimpse into a potential new piece of the state's visitor economy.

Some Alaskans are mulling the idea of starting up marijuana tourism companies, while others already have business licenses, but all seem to be biding their time until more commercial marijuana licenses are approved later this year.

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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.

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