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1US AK: Facebook Takes Down Pages Of Some Legal Alaska Pot ShopsThu, 13 Jul 2017
Source:Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Author:Bohrer, Becky Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/17/2017

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Facebook has shut down pages set up by several businesses licensed to legally sell marijuana in Alaska, severing what some shop owners consider a critical link to their customers.

The social media giant said its standards describe what users can post, and content promoting marijuana sales isn't allowed. The issue has popped up over the last few years in states that have legalized recreational and medical pot, often coming in waves, industry officials said.

Cary Carrigan, executive director of the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association, said the industry has been forced to fight the same battles repeatedly as marijuana gains broader acceptance nationally.

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2US AK: With Product In Stock, Anchorage's First Pot Shop OfficiallySat, 17 Dec 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:12/17/2016

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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3US AK: Commercial Marijuana Is Almost Here, and Alaska'sTue, 06 Sep 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Zak, Annie Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:09/06/2016

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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4 US AK: PUB LTE: Letting Adults Have Legal Pot Keeps Teens FromSat, 03 Sep 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Harris, Mike Area:Alaska Lines:51 Added:09/03/2016

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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5US AK: Alaska Attorney General: Marijuana Social Clubs AreThu, 01 Sep 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:09/01/2016

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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6US AK: Alaska Has Yet to See a Legal Pot Sale. but Some BanksWed, 17 Aug 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:08/17/2016

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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7US AK: Summit Gives US Surgeon General Alaska's Perspective onFri, 05 Aug 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hollander, Zaz Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:08/05/2016

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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8 US AK: OPED: Questions About Marijuana Businesses Persist, andSat, 30 Jul 2016
Source:Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) Author:Ostlind, James F. Area:Alaska Lines:108 Added:07/30/2016

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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9US AK: Here's How Many Cannabis Plants Alaskans Can NowSat, 30 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/30/2016

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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10US AK: Oregon Adds Pot to Its State-Fair Lineup. Alaska Isn'tFri, 29 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/29/2016

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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11US AK: Anchorage's First Commercial Marijuana Grow Approved byWed, 27 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hanlon, Tegan Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/27/2016

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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12US AK: Backers of Fairbanks Commercial Cannabis Bans MissThu, 21 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/21/2016

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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13 US AK: PUB LTE: Pot Is Not A Play ToySat, 16 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Wooldridge, Howard Area:Alaska Lines:26 Added:07/16/2016

"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]

14 US AK: PUB LTE: Smoking Cannabis Is SafeFri, 15 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Lane, Dave Area:Alaska Lines:23 Added:07/15/2016

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]

15 US AK: LTE: Public Consumption Of MarijuanaWed, 13 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Smith, Patricia Area:Alaska Lines:27 Added:07/14/2016

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]

16US AK: Here's Where Half of the Revenue From Alaska's LegalWed, 13 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/14/2016

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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17US AK: Owner of Popular Anchorage Bar Among Those Approved forSat, 09 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/10/2016

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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18US AK: Alaska Marijuana Control Board Tweaks Marijuana BarFri, 08 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/08/2016

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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19US AK: Campaign Opposing Commercial Marijuana Ban in Mat-SuFri, 08 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/08/2016

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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20US AK: These People Want to Show Alaska Tourists the MarijuanaMon, 04 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Zak, Annie Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/04/2016

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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21US AK: Marijuana Test Labs Move Forward in Juneau, BringingSun, 03 Jul 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:07/03/2016

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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22US AK: Alaska's First-Ever Marijuana Businesses Approved byFri, 10 Jun 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:06/10/2016

The Marijuana Control Board approved the first-ever commercial marijuana businesses in Alaska on Thursday.

After a rocky start to the meeting, the board began approving cultivation and testing facilities in midafternoon.

"Everything takes longer than expected," newly appointed Chair Peter Mlynarik said of the meeting's morning delays. But once approvals began, they were "going fast," he said.

The first business to be approved was CannTest testing facility, located in Anchorage's Ship Creek area. CannTest was unanimously approved by the five-member board. The board's approval is contingent on local approval, which includes a 60-day protest period that must either run its course or be waived by a local government before a business can open its doors.

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23US AK: Fairbanks Is Shaping UP to Be the Center of Alaska'sWed, 08 Jun 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:06/08/2016

FAIRBANKS - On a warm, cloudless Memorial Day, Mike Emers surveyed his domain at Rosie Creek Farm. Emers has owned the family farm for 16 years, a spacious plot cut from the Interior Alaska wilderness. It was the last day the farm would exist in its current iteration. After that, its transformation to a cannabis growing facility would begin.

The next day, an 8-foot fence went up around the perimeter, satisfying part of the state's security requirements for the new legal marijuana industry.

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24 US AK: Anti-marijuana Efforts Surge In BoroughThu, 02 Jun 2016
Source:Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) Author:Bohman, Amanda Area:Alaska Lines:111 Added:06/03/2016

FAIRBANKS - Efforts are underway to stop marijuana businesses from opening in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

A Salcha man is launching an initiative with hopes to keep legal marijuana trade out of the borough, while the president of a strip mall condominium association maintains pot shops are prohibited in the River Mall on College Road under condo association rules because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

The borough so far has issued more than 40 land use permits for different marijuana businesses, mainly cultivation.

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25US AK: In the Wake of Anchorage's Spice Crisis, Many Are BackSun, 29 May 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/30/2016

On Dec. 1, 2015, Dalon White woke up in the hospital, unsure how he got there. The last thing he remembered was smoking a "stick" of Spice he'd bought for $5 in downtown Anchorage.

"Next thing you know, the world's spinning and I was falling over," White said.

White, then 21, was charged with a crime that day, but he didn't realize it. He faces a misdemeanor drug charge, one of about 50 that have been issued since Anchorage criminalized Spice six months ago.

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26US AK: Feds: Goose Creek Correctional Officer Tried to SmuggleThu, 26 May 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Klint, Chris Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/26/2016

A prison guard at Goose Creek Correctional Center has been arrested on federal drug charges after the FBI says the guard admitted he tried to smuggle heroin and marijuana into the prison for inmates this week.

Court records show Adam Jason Spindler, 32, is charged with possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, as well as conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and to possess it with the intent to distribute.

According to a criminal complaint against Spindler written by FBI Special Agent Richard Fuller, the state Department of Corrections earlier this month asked the bureau to investigate suspicions that Spindler - a night-shift guard at Goose Creek since April 2013 - was "smuggling drugs into GCCC for distribution to inmates."

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27US AK: Cannabis Convention Controversy: The 'Free' SamplesMon, 16 May 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Jensen, Scott Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/16/2016

The second Northwest Cannabis Classic trade show at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center over the weekend had plenty of free giveaways, including marijuana leaf stickers and lighters. A few exhibitor booths even had edibles such as candies and cookies.

But they wouldn't get you high.

"These aren't infused," said Martin Christensen of the Oracle Cookie Company, pointing at the elaborately flavored cookies he had laid out for convention attendees to try. "The cops actually came over and asked me, 'Are these infused?' "

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28US AK: OPED: People WHO Overcome Addiction, Incarceration AreWed, 11 May 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Dingman, Mike Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/11/2016

There's a source of strength hidden within our society that most seem to overlook. Many discount this source of strength, focusing on the past rather than potential. However, hidden in plain sight, all through our society, recovering addicts are making society better for all of us.

Junkies, druggies, methheads, crackheads, tweakers, smackheads, trippers, whatever you've called them in the past, when they start the process of recovery, they are taking a journey more difficult than most of us will ever understand.

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29 US AK: Burnout: The Rise And Fall Of A Pot ClubMon, 02 May 2016
Source:Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) Author:Bohman, Amanda Area:Alaska Lines:167 Added:05/05/2016

FAIRBANKS - When Megan and Marcus Mooers started thinking about opening a private marijuana club, they knew they wanted the name to have the initials THC.

THC is short for tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana.

"We kind of spitballed for names until we found one that worked," Megan Mooers said. "It had to be something clever, something we could brand."

They came up with The Higher Calling, opened their doors in November and attracted hundreds of members. But five months later, Fairbanks' first marijuana business closed because it lacked enough dues-paying members to continue. Now, under local law, marijuana clubs in the Fairbanks North Star Borough are illegal.

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30US AK: Mat-Su Assembly Approves Marijuana Business MoratoriumThu, 05 May 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hollander, Zaz Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/05/2016

PALMER -- The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly late Tuesday approved a temporary moratorium on all commercial cannabis operations.

The moratorium reflects the Assembly's desire to wait until local voters in early October decide a borough-wide ban that includes everything but industrial hemp.

The Assembly unanimously put on hold any applications for marijuana businesses including cultivation, testing, manufacture and retail sales through Oct. 19. But they approved a sunset clause of Aug. 17 for cultivation.

The rest of the moratorium extends through mid-October, until local elections are certified.

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31US AK: How Will Marijuana Businesses Handle Their Cash?Sun, 01 May 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Zak, Annie Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/01/2016

Sara Williams just isn't that comfortable with handling $10 million in cash.

Williams is the CEO of Midnight Greenery, a retail store she and co-owner Tina Smith plan to open in Anchorage this year to sell cannabis flowers, concentrates, oils, edibles and other products.

But like most who are eager to get into Alaska's marijuana industry, Williams is worried about what to do with all the incoming cash that she can't keep in a bank -- especially if business goes well.

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32US AK: OPED: Don't Throw Out the Controlled Substances ActSat, 30 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hudak, John Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/30/2016

The Controlled Substances Act is not outdated.

It is a law structured in a way meant to protect science, medicine, patients and the public. It is not absolutist. It has an administrative structure built into it to control for mistakes, new scientific discoveries and even evolving public or medical understanding.

Today's federal drug laws appear to have done a disservice to marijuana, locking it into an inappropriate schedule where it is banned outright.

But in reality, negative drug policy around marijuana is not the fault of the CSA. Instead, a variety of other factors -- mainly attributed to biased lawmakers -- have hindered the law from working properly when it comes to the drug.

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33US AK: OPED: Federal Drug Act Needs a Rewrite Based onFri, 29 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Piper, Bill Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/29/2016

Congress and President Obama are under pressure to reschedule marijuana. While rescheduling makes sense, it doesn't solve the state/federal conflict over marijuana (de-scheduling would be better). But more important, it wouldn't fix the broken scheduling system. Ideally, marijuana reform should be part of a broader bill rewriting the Controlled Substances Act.

The Controlled Substances Act created a five-category scheduling system for most legal and illegal drugs (although alcohol and tobacco were notably omitted). Depending on what category a drug is in, the drug is either subject to varying degrees of regulation and control (Schedules II through V) -- or completely prohibited, otherwise unregulated and left to criminals to manufacture and distribute (Schedule I). The scheduling of various drugs was decided largely by Congress and absent a scientific process -- with some strange results.

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34US AK: Here's What Alaska's Marijuana Bars May Look LikeThu, 28 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/28/2016

No happy hours, but serving food and non-alcoholic beverages would be allowed in Alaska's marijuana cafes, according to draft rules accepted by the state's Marijuana Control Board.

On Tuesday, the board agreed on draft regulations that show the first details of what the "on-site consumption" area, akin to a cafe or bar, would look like. The draft now heads to the public for comment.

Alaska is the only state where regulators have carved out in their rules a public place where people can go to smoke or eat cannabis.

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35US AK: Identity Matters: Will Alaska's Cannabis EntrepreneursWed, 27 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Zak, Annie Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/27/2016

More than two years ago, Leif Abel sat around a table with his brother and his father and a list of about 50 possible names for the marijuana cultivation business they wanted to start in Kasilof.

After considering whether to take on an image that clearly sends a message about cannabis or perhaps something more discreet, they landed on the name Greatland Ganja and a logo that prominently features a cannabis leaf.

"We're proud of what we're doing," Abel said. "We're trying to project a culture of openness and acceptance of people within this subculture that is coming into main society."

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36US AK: Legislature Passes Bill Authorizing National BackgroundSat, 23 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/23/2016

Alaska marijuana business owners will be subject to national background checks if a bill that passed the Senate on Friday morning is signed into law.

Senate Bill 165 deals mainly with Alaska's alcohol regulations, including a provision to greatly reduce minor consumption penalties. The bill passed the Senate during the fifth day of overtime for the Legislature and now heads to Gov. Bill Walker's desk for his signature.

A provision in the bill authorizes the Marijuana Control Board to conduct national background checks on business applicants, a key component for the entity tasked with approving the first licenses for Alaska's fledgling legal cannabis industry.

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37US AK: Alaska's Rural Pot Market Could Be Grounded Before ItFri, 22 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/22/2016

On the western coast of Alaska, more than 500 miles northwest of Anchorage, Robin Thomas hopes to start the first legal commercial marijuana grow in the famed gold rush city of Nome.

A fisherman by trade, Thomas is looking for a "retirement job" that is less dangerous and less physically demanding than crabbing. He wants something a little easier, something that offers year-round employment.

Enter marijuana.

Thomas has been waiting for legalization for decades. "It finally happened," he said.

He's figured out the basics of his grow operation. He's tallied up investment costs and has designed his own blueprints. He's put in his required public notice to the roughly 3,000 residents of the city. He's even got his own strain of medicinal marijuana.

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38US AK: Smoking and Networking at Anchorage's Marijuana SocialWed, 20 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Zak, Annie Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/20/2016

Opening the door at Pot Luck Events, the inconspicuous marijuana social club not far from Anchorage's downtown Hilton, can be an intense welcome on a busy night. A heavy aroma hits you in the face: pungent, hazy air.

On Saturday, the place teemed with pot lovers and hopeful marijuana entrepreneurs alike for the smoky release party of ArcticBlue, a strain of pot from Anchorage cultivator ArcticBlue Farms. People gathered in a corner to smoke dabs -- highly concentrated marijuana - -- or lounged in low-slung chairs to share joints and bowls under dim lights and a disco ball.

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39US AK: Marijuana Social Clubs Dwindle in Alaska As LegalMon, 18 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Summers, DJ Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/19/2016

Anchorage's Pot Luck Events is the only marijuana social club still operating without a legal challenge, as statewide puzzlement to their legality produces a patchwork of local controls.

Fairbanks' The Higher Calling and Homer's Kachemak Cannabis Club have both closed, and the City of Kenai is seeking an injunction against Green Rush Events.

The clubs, which allow dues-paying members to share and consume cannabis but do not sell it themselves, inhabit either a murky legal area or a clearly defined one, depending on whom you ask.

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40US AK: Struggling to Get By, Houston Declares Itself Open forSun, 17 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hollander, Zaz Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/17/2016

HOUSTON -- This scrappy town of 2,000 that straddles 22 square miles along the Parks Highway has long been the only place in Southcentral Alaska where buying fireworks is legal.

Now Houston is welcoming the state's nascent marijuana industry in hopes of drumming up some much-needed revenue for a city struggling to stay solvent.

If a voter-initiative ban goes through this fall, Houston could become the only place in the Ireland-sized Matanuska-Susitna Borough where commercial marijuana operations are legal.

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41 US AK: LTE: Our 'Windfall' Is Going to PotSat, 16 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Neal, Don Area:Alaska Lines:28 Added:04/17/2016

The mayor announces a $14 million surplus. Whee! I'm sure he will use it to mitigate the 7 percent increase in property taxes that he proposes. Whoops - there I go, daydreaming again. But maybe the pot tax will help us. Whoops again - that measly 5 percent will only bring in a half million or so.

And it's mostly earmarked for regulating pot, for APD pot training and for educating the public on the use of pot. Wasn't one of the arguments for legalizing pot the idea that its taxes would bring in a flood of money to help reduce our present shortfall?

- - Don Neal

Anchorage

[end]

42 US AK: PUB LTE: Boroughs That Opt Out on Legal Pot Shouldn'tWed, 13 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Jones, Kathleen R. Area:Alaska Lines:33 Added:04/14/2016

For the sake of 149,021 Alaska residents who voted in favor of legalizing marijuana in our state, let's go over this again ... we voted (and won!) due to the carefully researched wording of the bill. It read that marijuana would be "regulated the same as alcohol" and we also believed this sale "regulated the same as alcohol" would bring in many tax dollars, which our state needs even more badly now than in 2014. So, the powers that be in Mat-Su have decided that: 1. They are going out of their way to make sure it is NOT "regulated the same as alcohol" with measures beyond the norm. 2. If Alaska is following Colorado's lead, then any borough that does not favorably pass the law would receive zero tax dollars.

Help me to understand why our 149,021 votes didn't count. Reminds many of us again when we voted twice (and won!) to move the capital from Juneau.

- - Kathleen R. Jones

Palmer

[end]

43US AK: OPED: Civil Liberties Are NonpartisanTue, 12 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Wilson, Tammie Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/12/2016

Government Should Not Keep Seized Property If There's No Conviction

Civil liberties make unusual bedfellows.

If you follow the Alaska Legislature, you know this byline is the equivalent of pigs taking flight or a glacier in hell. For people who have a life outside politics, let us explain: We the authors, Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, and Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka, inhabit what could be described as disparate real estate on the political-philosophical spectrum.

With regularity, and with abundant good cheer, we cancel out each other's votes on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. Board of Fish confirmations, University of Alaska budget, Common Core. You name it, we are like chocolate and vanilla, oil and vinegar, Coke and Pepsi, Tesla and Edison. We are expert agreeable disagreers.

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44US AK: She Died in an Anchorage Jail While Detoxing FromSun, 10 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hollander, Zaz Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/10/2016

WASILLA -- Kellsie Green died in January, six days after she entered the Anchorage jail -- 24 years old, weighing only about 80 pounds and about to embark on the brutal process of detoxing from a 4-gram-a-day heroin habit.

Now Green's father is claiming in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed late last month against the Alaska Department of Corrections that the brief jail sentence he'd hoped would save her life instead led to her death.

John Green said his daughter's cellmates at the Anchorage jail told him requests to help Kellsie went mostly ignored even as her condition worsened to the point she could no longer stand, vomited blood and soiled herself.

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45 US AK: Editorial: State Should Clarify Pot Club StatusThu, 07 Apr 2016
Source:Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)          Area:Alaska Lines:76 Added:04/08/2016

Gray Area for Social Clubs Could Lead to Patchwork Local Regulation

After the closure of The Higher Calling cannabis club last week, the argument over a proposed Fairbanks North Star Borough ordinance that would close similar marijuana-related businesses operating without a state license may be less heated. But it will still be important, as social marijuana clubs now exist in a sort of legal limbo not yet addressed under state law. And while the borough certainly could step in to regulate that gray area, it's really the state's responsibility to clarify the law so that current and prospective operators can know whether their businesses are sanctioned. It's a situation that has gone unaddressed for too long.

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46US AK: Marijuana Business Applications Being Held Up byThu, 07 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/07/2016

Prospective marijuana business owner Bryant Thorp was the very first person in Alaska to get word that his cannabusiness application was complete, except for one thing -- a background check that the state doesn't have the legal authority to conduct.

In the Marijuana Control Board's March 25 letter to Thorp the agency wrote that it couldn't approve his application until his fingerprints were sent to the FBI for a national criminal background check.

"At this time, we are unable to do so," wrote director Cynthia Franklin. That's because the Legislature must write the provision into law, she wrote.

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47US AK: What Don Young Really Thinks About Alaska MarijuanaThu, 07 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Martinson, Erica Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/07/2016

Alaska's sole congressman, Don Young, spoke at a Native issues forum in Juneau on Tuesday, answering audience questions in classic Don Young style.

In a meeting sponsored by the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and Sealaska Corp., which was live-streamed online, Young, 83, held forth on the Trump phenomenon, legalized marijuana, dealing with Alaska's growing heroin problem, and his future in Congress.

On Donald Trump:

Young was asked his feelings on the GOP presidential race. In a radio interview last week, the congressman declared his support for Ohio Gov. John Kasich and implied that he questions real estate mogul Donald Trump's qualifications when it comes to the economy.

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48US AK: Murkowski Wants Feds to Address Rules That PreventTue, 05 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Summers, Dj Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/05/2016

Sen. Lisa Murkowski picked up an issue Lower 48 states with legal marijuana still haven't resolved in a March 2 letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

The letter asks Lynch to re-examine federal gun regulations inconsistent with state laws where marijuana is legal. Along with banking -- federal laws prohibit bank involvement with marijuana businesses -- gun ownership exemplifies a schism between federal and state laws concerning cannabis.

A 2011 directive from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives specifically prohibits federal firearms dealers from selling to marijuana users, both medical and recreational. Private gun sales between individuals, which are not federally controlled, do not have this restriction.

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49US AK: Voters May Decide Fate of Commercial Marijuana on KenaiTue, 05 Apr 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Andrews, Laurel Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:04/05/2016

Voters on the Kenai Peninsula may decide whether to ban commercial marijuana within the borough, should an Assembly ordinance move forward.

On Tuesday, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will hear public testimony on the ordinance and hold a vote to introduce it. The ordinance is sponsored by Assembly President Blaine Gilman, who said Monday he expects a large public turnout and lengthy testimony Tuesday evening.

Under the ordinance, voters would decide whether to ban all four marijuana license types -- growers, retail stores, manufacturers and testing facilities -- in the borough.

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50 US AK: LTE: People Making Bad Choices Is Nothing NewWed, 30 Mar 2016
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Richards, Paul Area:Alaska Lines:39 Added:03/31/2016

Yet another article concerning heroin addiction has appeared in this paper. It is as if writing about the problem will change something. It won't.

I lived in Fairbanks for 20 winters and observed that every spring as breakup approached, people would continue to drive down Small Tracks Road, past the "thin ice" signs, around the recently installed barricades, and across the Chena River ice road until someone, usually a 20-something male in a pickup, dropped through the ice thereby necessitating a tow and an expensive repair. It happens during the season that the sandhill cranes return to Creamer's Field. Both events are foreseeable but a Chena River dunking is preventable.

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