The Alaska Marijuana Control Board is backpedaling on a change announced last month that would have opened cannabis business applications to anyone registered to vote in Alaska — a restriction so simple that it would have blown the doors wide open to outside investors trying to get in on the Alaska cannabis market, Alaska Dispatch News reports.
Instead, regulators are returning to the residency requirements originally drafted, which require individuals to have lived in Alaska for at least a year and currently be either working or attending school there.
State officials have argued that they don’t have the resources to conduct background checks on individuals outside of Alaska, which is one of the reasons outside investments have been largely rejected.
However, a second amendment was introduced this week to the regulatory board, which would allow for up to 12.5 percent outside investment in Alaska marijuana businesses. The rules as written currently require all cannabusinesses to be 100 percent Alaskan-owned.
A final decision on the matter will come when the Board of Marijuana reconvenes in February.
Photo Credit: Paxson Woelber
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