Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board has rejected its first application, according to a report by the Alaska Journal. The refusal for an application by Wild Flower Holdings LLC was due to the company not being based in the state and, according to Boardmember Brandon Emmett, their lack of knowledge about the cannabis industry.
“I’ve advocated pretty hard in the past for Outside investment just because I think it’s so important that these businesses have access to capital,” Emmett, who acts as an industry representative on the board, said in the report. “But it seemed clear to me that this applicant really didn’t know the business, and I think as a board it’s important we have knowledgeable people owning these licenses.”
The board found the company’s application to be suspicious because the paperwork itself was a duplicate of Dream Green Farms’ application — Wild Flower even left Dream Green’s name on the application, the report says. Additionally, the company listed plans for only 10 plants, which other licensed growers deemed uneconomical. When the board interviewed Andrea Gibbons, the owner of Wild Flower, she deferred the questions to management consultants from Arizona-based Happiedaze LLC, and seemed to have little personal knowledge of how the business would operate.
Alaska’s adult-use law prohibits non-residents from direct or indirect financial investment in cannabis operations licenses by the state. The rules are designed to prevent criminal money laundering, and to give residents priority.
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