WASILLA -- Soaring heroin overdose death rates in Alaska still don't outpace the rate of fatal overdoses from prescription opioid pain relievers, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

Deaths from heroin increased from seven in 2009 to 36 deaths last year, according to a bulletin released Thursday by the state Division of Public Health.

The number of fatal overdoses from prescription opioids was far higher: 83 deaths last year, down from 104 deaths in 2009.

Fatal overdoses linked to prescription pain medications dropped considerably in 2010 after pharmaceutical companies changed formulations to deter abuse but then began rising again, according to Dr. Jay Butler, the state's chief medical officer and director of the public health division.

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Unlicensed marijuana growers who are discovered with more cannabis than allowed under personal grow laws may find themselves subject to both criminal and tax penalties, should a bill circulating the Alaska Legislature be signed into law.

House Bill 337, sponsored by Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, seeks to give the state Department of Revenue's Tax Division more enforcement power.

"It's going to help the legitimate marijuana industry get off the ground," LeDoux said of the bill Saturday. "That's my purpose."

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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.

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The company that will provide a seed-to-sale tracking system for every single cannabis plant in Alaska's commercial industry is the same company that tracks commercial cannabis in Colorado and Oregon, the state announced this week.

Franwell, which calls itself a technology company focusing on supply chain tracking, has contracted with the state for more than five years, according to Alcoholic and Marijuana Control Office director Cynthia Franklin.

The contract was finalized March 7 and lasts until June 30, 2021, Franklin wrote in an email. The total cost of the contract is $105,000.

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State Rep. Dan Saddler, a Republican from Eagle River, indicated that heroin addicts and the Alaska Legislature face similar problems and it is time that they both face the problems head on instead of avoiding them with a needle or a bottle of alcohol.

This is how he justifies cutting funds for recovery programs, implying that addicts need to "face the difficult choices and to make difficult choices." His argument is many things: uninformed, damaging, hurtful -- and that doesn't include the logical fallacies embedded in his perspective. Perhaps it could be best summarized as a fundamental attribution error.

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WASILLA -- Marijuana entrepreneurs in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the state's reputed pot-growing capital, will have little time to get up and running before voters decide whether or not to back a commercial ban.

The borough assembly on Tuesday night delayed a decision on a new permitting system for marijuana businesses. But it's the combination of the state's licensing schedule and a pending ballot initiative to be decided in early October that's causing the time crunch.

Pot-related companies will probably be selling products for a few weeks at best before Mat-Su residents vote Oct. 4 on a proposal to outlaw commercial marijuana operations -- grows, testing labs, retail dispensaries -- throughout the borough except for those involving industrial hemp. The vote applies to all areas outside the cities of Palmer, Wasilla and Houston; Palmer and Wasilla already have bans in place.

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I read (ADN, Feb. 28) that Wasilla has voted to ban retail marijuana stores. This from the so-called "meth capital of Alaska." Makes one wonder if meth dealers don't have lobbyists.

- - Ken Flynn

Anchorage

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Anchorage officials will mark off the minimum 500 feet between schools and pot shops by using walking distances, not a straight line, the Anchorage Assembly decided in a unanimous vote Tuesday night.

The decision means more potential properties will be available for pot businesses in Anchorage. The Assembly's vote, a reversal from two weeks earlier, effectively loosens restrictions on where businesses will be allowed to open by in some cases shrinking the off-limits zone around schools and other restricted places.

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Shall Homer City Council ban commercial cannabis cultivation, testing, processing and sales from Homer? Already a majority of Palmer voters and the Wasilla city council have answered yes to a similar question. Others may answer their own way before too long. Alaskans and local governments around the state are posing similar questions in ordinances and local ballot items. But this question is being discussed right now in Homer, and I believe the entire state can benefit from listening in on Homer's dialog.

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When it comes to setting up a pot business in Anchorage, the way its distance is measured from a school can make a big difference in whether the business is allowed or not.

At its most recent meeting, amid a flurry of amendments to land use regulations, the Anchorage Assembly passed conflicting rules for the measurement method. One amendment, from Assemblymembers Amy Demboski and Bill Starr, specified that distances would be measured "as the crow flies" -- from the edge of a marijuana business to the lot line of a protected area -- instead of by pedestrian routes, which could be more circuitous.

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Hoping to track how Alaskans use and perceive marijuana, the state health department has begun taking annual surveys -- but with the first results published this month, some professionals are raising a red flag about the study's findings.

Alaska legalized the recreational use of marijuana in November 2014. With the shifting landscape, marijuana use and perceptions will likely change, the State of Alaska's section of epidemiology writes.

The survey, released Feb. 1, is the starting point for tracking those changes. But is the data reliable?

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In nationwide surveys, Alaska has consistently had some of the highest reported rates of gun ownership and adult cannabis use. So the two topics were bound to intersect here. Given the controversy surrounding guns in our country, and cannabis for that matter, I'm going to take a few steady breaths and pause a little before getting into it. I hope everyone does the same. All around this topic, the air has the clean blue flavor of a fresh lightning strike.

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When pot businesses can legally open in Anchorage later this year, they'll have to be at least 500 feet from schools in most parts of the city, the Anchorage Assembly decided Tuesday night.

The Assembly also narrowly voted against a proposal to allow on-site consumption in retail stores, at least for now. That question was referred back to the Assembly's committee on marijuana regulation. Assembly members said the city should wait for the outcome of still-evolving state regulations before adopting local rules on marijuana bars or cafes -- but left undisturbed laws for private social clubs, where customers can bring their own pot to consume.

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Cannabis clubs have been in the news a lot, from the front page of the News-Miner to the top news story on TV to the community perspectives on the opinion page. It is a new industry, and the new business is causing some concern and trepidation. But very little has been said about why Fairbanks needs a cannabis club, and what such a business has to offer.

AS 17.38, passed by the majority of Alaska voters, legalized recreational marijuana use and possession and set out guidelines for how much a person can grow at home and posses in public.

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Last fall, I listened as a mother named Cary Dixon told her family's story at a forum I convened in West Virginia. It was heartbreaking. Cary's adult son has struggled with a substance use disorder for years, and she described the pain that families like hers have gone through. "We dread the next phone call," she said. "We don't take vacations for fear of the next crisis. We come back from vacations because there's a crisis."

Cary and her family are far from alone. As the use of prescription drugs has increased over the past 15 or 20 years, so has their misuse - -- as well as the wreckage caused by other opioids like heroin. In fact, four in five heroin users started out by misusing prescription drugs, and then switched to heroin. As a consequence, between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related deaths in America nearly quadrupled. More Americans now die of drug overdoses than in motor vehicle crashes. In Alaska, overdoses claimed 124 lives in 2014 alone.

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By a narrow 4-3 vote and with the mayor breaking the tie, the Unalaska City Council last week took its first step towards banning local sales and commercial growing, testing, and manufacturing of marijuana products.

A local activist promised to put the issue on the ballot in the fall local election, and to oppose officials supporting a ban. Three seats are up for election this year -- two on the council now held by Roger Rowland and David Gregory, plus the mayor's.

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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?

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Commercial marijuana growers statewide have another avenue to deposit their cash taxes rather than traveling to Anchorage, the state Tax Division said.

In an article published last week, the Tax Division said that growers must travel to Alaska's largest city to deposit excise tax payments, regardless of where they live, as it could only afford to invest in one drop deposit box.

In reply to the news, readers asked whether they could use registered mail to send currency to the state. The answer: Yes.

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All but two parts of Alaska's rules governing commercial marijuana were approved by the state government Friday, with one section addressing criminal background checks and another providing exceptions to marijuana testing for growers in rural areas struck down by the state Department of Law.

On Dec. 1, the five-member Marijuana Control Board made its final tweaks to the rules outlining Alaska's commercial marijuana industry. The 127-page document outlines everything from grower operations to testing and processing requirements, and includes a provision allowing for on-site consumption of marijuana at retail stores, the first law of its kind in the nation.

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Alaska marijuana businesses from Barrow to Juneau paying their monthly taxes in cash will have to travel to Anchorage to deposit the money, the state tax division said Wednesday.

The tax division outlined its plans Wednesday, the first news of how Alaska's canna-businesses will pay their monthly taxes since the state held discussion sessions this autumn.

"I'm sure the folks that are planning to do business anywhere but Anchorage are going to be disappointed," deputy director of the Revenue Department's Tax Division, Brandon Spanos, said Wednesday.

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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.

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I couldn't help but smile as I read your article, "Wasilla moves forward toward ban on sales of marijuana." Whenever friends in my age group discuss why we might leave the state, I always counter with, "but you wouldn't have Wasilla."

Think of all they have given us: the Palins, a great ferry tale that you couldn't make up, and now this. I can't help but imagining that, right beyond city boundaries, there will be marijuana stores akin to Gorilla Fireworks to add a dash of class to a city that is already a visual treat to drive through.

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WASILLA -- Wasilla's bid to prohibit marijuana businesses inside city limits took a step forward Monday night.

The city council voted to set an amendment to Wasilla's marijuana regulations for public hearing on Jan. 25. The amendment would ban retail storefronts and commercial cultivation of marijuana in Wasilla. The city already bans marijuana clubs and manufacturing edibles for sale or commercial use.

If the measure is implemented, Wasilla will join Palmer in banning commercial marijuana businesses. Palmer voters approved such a ban last year. Selling and growing marijuana is still legal in Houston and the rest of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, though Valley voters will get the chance to decide on a boroughwide ban this fall.

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The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night approved a ballot measure that will ask voters in April whether marijuana retail sales should be taxed, starting at 5 percent.

The ballot measure would authorize the Assembly to increase the tax up to 12 percent without going back to voters again, but only once every two years and by a maximum of 2 percent each time. For the first three years, the revenue would fall outside the city tax cap.

After nearly an hour of debate, the Assembly voted 9-2 to approve the measure, with Patrick Flynn and Amy Demboski in opposition.

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FAIRBANKS (AP) - Proposed legislation in Fairbanks would make the city's first private pot club an illegal facility.

The operators of The Higher Calling, which opened in November, could face a misdemeanor charge and a civil fine of $1,000 per day if the ordinance is approved, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Members at the club pay $10 per day or $25 per month to consume marijuana at the facility, which has been licensed by the state of Alaska and the city.

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Job growth in the hospitality and health-care industries won't be enough to stave off job losses in other sectors in Anchorage in 2016, according to a report released Thursday by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The city is likely to lose 1,200 jobs this year - a slight decrease of 0.8 percent compared to 2015 - and it's too early to be able to tell if the marijuana retail industry will soften that blow.

Anchorage's leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels, restaurants and bars, is expected to grow by 200 jobs in 2016, and health care is estimated to gain about 400 jobs.

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While Alaska's commercial marijuana market slowly forges ahead, some residents aren't waiting for retail businesses to surface and are instead providing cannabis to the severely ill and veterans, all free of charge.

Alaska Green Angels is one of these groups that has been giving away free cannabis for the past year. It was started as reaction to what the group feels is a medical marijuana system that has failed its patients -- although the state disagrees.

On a Tuesday afternoon in December, a dozen of the group's members gathered at a storefront in Anchorage. A seemingly disparate group, they ranged in ages and appearance. One young woman wore a neatly tied ponytail; another man with tattoos on his neck huddled in a camo jacket; an older woman in jeans stood the entire meeting.

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