Alaska Marijuana Board Advances Numerous Rule Changes on Sampling, Advertising and More, Agrees to Double Purchase Limits for Concentrates and THC in Edibles

(Photo credit: Craig Barker Photography).

During a special meeting today Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board advanced a wide-ranging package of regulatory changes that would expand employee marijuana sampling, loosen advertising rules, allow supervised minors on licensed premises, streamline packaging and tracking requirements and remove purchase limits at on-site consumption facilities.

Although the board’s approval advances these proposals, none of the changes are final. Items approved by the board will first go to the Department of Law for legal review and, if cleared, will then undergo a 30-day public comment period before potential final adoption.

One of the most significant changes approved Tuesday involved marijuana samples provided to industry employees for quality control. The board amended the proposal to allow employees to receive up to one ounce of marijuana flower, 7 grams of concentrate and seven packages of edible products containing no more than 700 mg of THC total each week. The entire weekly allowance could be provided at once. Existing regulations limit cultivation employees to one ounce of flower per 30-day period.

The board also reached agreement on a plan to double Alaska’s current purchase limits for marijuana concentrates and edible THC, although members stopped short of formally voting on that portion Tuesday.

Under the framework supported by board members, Alaska would move to an equivalency system in which one ounce of marijuana flower, 14 grams of concentrate and 11,200 mg of THC in edible products would each represent the same maximum purchase amount. Because that approach represented a substantial change from the original proposal, which called for eliminating the limits entirely, the board sent the language back to staff for redrafting before a vote.

The revised proposal is expected to return at a special meeting that will be scheduled before the board’s regular November meeting.

The board did, however, vote Tuesday to advance a separate portion of the purchase-limit proposal that would eliminate purchase limits at licensed on-site consumption facilities. Customers could not leave the establishment possessing marijuana above the standard legal possession limit.

Another approved package would allow people under 21 onto licensed marijuana premises when accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. During discussion, members stressed that minors must remain accompanied and supervised and should not be allowed into certain higher-risk restricted areas, with marijuana concentrate “blast rooms” cited as an example (or “boom rooms” as the chair called them). The broader proposal also removes the existing restriction prohibiting retail marijuana businesses from operating between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m.

The board also approved a major consolidation of marijuana packaging and labeling regulations. Members amended that proposal to retain the existing 10-pound wholesale package limit, rather than eliminating it as contemplated in the draft. The package moves numerous existing requirements into centralized packaging and labeling sections while reducing or simplifying others.

Inventory-tracking regulations were also advanced, along with changes simplifying business-record requirements. The recordkeeping proposal eliminates a conflicting three-business-day deadline for records stored off premises, leaving a separate 10-day requirement as the applicable standard.

On security, the board advanced rules adding the term “inversion” alongside marijuana diversion while eliminating several requirements governing written security policies. Core requirements including exterior lighting, alarms, video surveillance and commercial-grade locks would remain.

The board also approved changes to its meeting procedures, but amended the proposal after the vice chair raised concerns that the original language could be interpreted as allowing certain meetings without a full agenda being posted beforehand.

Another approved proposal would eliminate marijuana license renewal penalty fees associated with delinquent taxes that currently range from $200 to $10,000, depending on how far the case has progressed. The underlying tax obligations would remain.

Advertising regulations would also be substantially loosened under a package advanced Tuesday. The draft removes mandatory marijuana advertising warnings, restrictions on certain location-based mobile marketing and restrictions tying event sponsorship to the expected percentage of attendees under 21. The board also removed language concerning “intelligible” audio during discussion of requirements affecting audio advertisements such as radio ads.

Additional actions included repealing a redundant regulation governing a licensee’s ability to refuse a sale and standardizing reasons the board can deny license or endorsement applications.

The board did not have enough time Tuesday to complete the entire regulatory agenda. Members said the unfinished items, along with the rewritten purchase-limit proposal, will be taken up at a special meeting expected to be scheduled before the regular November meeting. Among the remaining subjects are proposed changes involving in-house marijuana testing and definitions for immature, mature, flowering and non-flowering plants.