Marijuana regulators in Alaska are poised to award the state’s first recreational cannabis business licenses, according to an Associated Press report.
Today’s meeting agenda for the Marijuana Control Board includes hearings in which 30 applications will be considered. 28 applicants are for recreational cultivation licenses, while the other two are for testing facilities.
The Marijuana Control Board is using a staggered approach in its recreational marijuana licensing process, focusing first on producers and testing labs so that a sufficient stockpile of consumer-safe products is established before the licensing and opening of cannabis retailers.
Regulators expect to start licensing retailers in September, according to Cynthia Franklin, director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.
License applications from five hopeful cannabis producers will be also considered today by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly: the Tanana Herb Co., Purple Quail, Alaska Cannabis Cultivators, Pakalolo Supply Co. and Rosie Creek Farm. “The only real criteria are that the operation must be consistent with our zoning, and we must have non-arbitrary reasons for rejecting it,” John Davies, presiding officer of the assembly, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.