This weekend, Alaska saw its first-ever job fair for careers in commercial cannabis, offering a glimpse of how the semi-legal marijuana industry is taking tentative steps towards professionalism and profits.

Theresa Collins shuffled between prospective employers and job-seekers inside the enormous, high-ceiling room that serves as the venue for Pot Luck Events, the marijuana-friendly company she runs at 420 West 3rd Avenue in downtown Anchorage. And yes, that is the actual address. Collins worked with the newly-formed Alaska Cannabis Growers Association to organize an event matching would-be workers with jobs that don’t yet exist.

ummer weather in downtown Anchorage was reason enough to be outside on Saturday, but atPot Luck Events (appropriately located at 420 W. 3rd Avenue), dozens of people were huddled in a low lit room filling out paperwork and, well, smoking pot.

It was the first time the municipality hosted a job fair specifically for people interested in working in the marijuana business.

The state has a year until it begins issuing licenses for businesses selling recreational marijuana. Between now and then, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Board is home to a new body developing regulations: the Marijuana Control Board.

The rules taking shape are modeled on commercial alcohol sales, with regulators hoping to learn from past mistakes in Washington and Colorado.

On Thursday, ABC Board Director Cynthia Franklin spoke to members of the Anchorage Assembly in a packed conference room. The state codes concerned with growing, selling, and managing marijuana are expected to be done by November. And similar to Title 4 dealing with alcohol, the emerging ordinances are based on lots of local control.

Marijuana and its legal status is a hot-button issue these days, with Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, the state of Washington and Washington D.C. recently legalizing non-medical use of marijuana. Medical marijuana, used for real medical afflictions like epilepsy, inflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, should be legal nationwide. You might think medical marijuana is just an excuse to sell legal weed and, for the most part, I agree. However, there exists true medical marijuana: cannabis oil from strains high in Cannabidiol (CBD), used to treat patients with epilepsy.

ANCHORAGE -

There’s a proposal on the table that would treat marijuana smoke like tobacco smoke in Anchorage.

On Tuesday, Anchorage Assembly Chair Dick Traini plans to introduce an ordinance that would add pot to Anchorage’s secondhand smoking law.

“Where ever you can’t smoke tobacco, you can’t smoke marijuana if this passes,” said Traini.

“I’ve been getting calls from bar owners worried about people coming in and lighting up inside their bars,” Traini said. “They just want at least five feet away from the bar, anywhere you can’t smoke tobacco you should not smoke marijuana because smoke is smoke.”

“The two of them considered the same in my opinion is just crazy,” said Ben Adams, Alaska Pot Attorney.

Anchorage Assembly Chair Dick Traini is proposing to treat marijuana smoke like tobacco smoke when it comes to public facilities, workplaces and schools.

A measure that Traini plans to introduce next week at the Assembly meeting would incorporate marijuana and marijuana products into the city’s secondhand smoking law. That means smoking marijuana would not be allowed in public places, workplaces, child care centers, outdoor arenas, stadiums and amphitheaters and municipal facilities, including schools.

People also would not be allowed to smoke within 5 feet of the entrance to a place licensed to serve alcohol, or within 50 feet of a hospital or medical clinic entrance.

The public can now weigh in on Alaska’s first round of proposed marijuana regulations.

Local-option law and marijuana definitions are the focus of the first wave of regulations, unveiled at the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s meeting in April.

The proposed definitions include basics like what constitutes a “marijuana plant” and “edible marijuana product,” but also what it means to "possess" a plant or help someone grow marijuana.

The critical components of establishing a successful cannabis business may seem obvious at first:
•  Research industry-specific best-practices in cultivation.
•  Secure adequate funding.
•  Plan facility construction or adaptation.
•  Build a quality management team.
•  Seek counsel from legal and accounting experts.
•  Launch a progressive marketing campaign.

Yet what can an emerging company do to separate itself from the pack? In laying the groundwork for legitimate cannabis enterprise in Alaska, the founders of Greatland Ganja, LLC, have selected tactics aimed at appealing to evolving local attitudes toward recreational marijuana. By choosing to connect and work collaboratively, we create a more robust network of allies and assets.

They warned us this would happen. The states where recreational marijuana use is legal are also the states where marijuana is least expensive. The price of an ounce of weed ranges so widely from state to state that someone who smokes an ounce a month can move from Pittsburgh to Portland, Ore., and save enough money for a year’s worth of premium cable, the perfect companion for your habit.

A medical marijuana facility in Anchorage shut its doors Monday after the state warned that it would take enforcement action against the business.

AK Hydro Gardens closed on Monday morning, owner Ryan Smith said.

The company billed itself as a medical marijuana cultivation center. Medical marijuana cardholders would apply to have their plants grown in the Anchorage facility, and would pay a membership fee for the business to maintain their plants.

On the company’s website, Smith wrote that the business had been advised that “if we continue to grow excess amounts of marijuana in one location without a recreational license,” the state would “take law enforcement action.”