U.S. News Updates

Arkansas

This October, local growers of marijuana will be harvesting this year’s first legal crops. This marks a historic moment for those involved in the marijuana legalization movement. However, due to the stigma associated with cannabis, little is actually known about this plant.

Like all plants, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to grow it. All one needs is water, light, soil and, of course, the seeds. Beyond that, it a relatively simple process. Autoflowering cannabis plants are more simple than the strains that need to be life-cycled. Mike Emers of Rosie Creek Farm in Fairbanks farms autoflowering cannabis plants for a local grower.

When Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, opponents of the measures warned that ending the longstanding prohibition on weed would wreak havoc on society. The fiscal benefits associated with taxed and regulated marijuana wouldn’t be worthwhile, they said, because more children would end up using the drug and high drivers would terrorize the roadways.

Alaska is nearing its first legal sales of marijuana, nearly two years after voters approved the recreational use of pot by adults.

Retails stores are being permitted by the state Marijuana Control Board, and just a few hurdles remain until commercial sales begin.

The biggest obstacle is waiting for labs to test the raw product. Two labs have been licensed by the state, both in Anchorage.

One of those, CannTest, should be open by mid- to late October, said co-owner Mark Malagodi. The facility is awaiting final inspection from the municipality and state and final approval from an accrediting lab.

"If we're going to start testing by definitely the beginning of November, I think it rolls in pretty well with everything else," he said.

Alaskans two years ago approved recreational use of marijuana. That doesn't mean they want it sold in their towns.

Voters in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a municipality just larger than the state of West Virginia, and one renowned for a potent strain of black market pot, on Tuesday will consider a ban on commercial enterprises that sell, grow or test cannabis. Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and other Alaska municipalities will put the matter to a vote next year.

Former Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss pushed for a vote to ban commercial cannabis enterprises. Recreational marijuana may have been approved statewide, he said, but not in his borough.

U.S. News Updates

Alaska

Alaska’s first commercial cannabis harvests are underway. The first official legal crop comes from Greatland Ganja, a small cultivator on the Kenai Peninsula. Greatland has harvested about 75 pounds of cannabis so far, of an expected total of about 100 pounds consisting of 10 different strains. Unfortunately, however, the first harvest may not have anywhere to go. Distribution and sales are stalled until state-licensed testing laboratories are up and running. At the moment two labs are nearing completion in Anchorage: CannTest hopes to open by mid-October and AK Green Labs aims to be online by early November.

Arkansas

Charlo Greene did not plan to curse on live television, but on 22 September 2014, the words came pouring out.

Then a reporter for KTVA, a station in Alaska, Greene ended her segment on marijuana by revealing that she was a proponent of legalization – and was the owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, the subject of her news report.

“Fuck it, I quit,” she said, before abruptly walking off camera. The 26-year-old’s stunt shocked her colleagues and made her a viral sensation overnight.

Alaska is likely just weeks away from the state’s first legal marijuana sales, according to Cynthia Franklin, the Director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control office.

As of Sept. 28, there are 34 marijuana businesses listed in “active status” for their licenses. These businesses are some of the closest to operating under the new regulations, but are still subject to credentialing and preliminary inspections, according to the state’s website. Once the businesses are able to operate, they’ll move into “effective status.”

See the location of those businesses in the interactive map below:

Now that Alaska's first commercial cannabis harvest is underway, readers want to know: When will marijuana shops open?

"We're just weeks away," said Cynthia Franklin, executive director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, on Tuesday. "This is happening."

In Fairbanks, Frozen Budz is nearly done building its retail store, co-owner Destiny Neade wrote Tuesday. Frozen Budz was the first retailer approved by the state and will likely have its final inspection next week.

"Then it's just a waiting game until the labs are running," Neade wrote.

With autumn tightening its grip on Alaska, the state's first-ever commercial marijuana harvests are underway.

At Greatland Ganja, a marijuana grow in this small town on the Kenai Peninsula, brothers Leif and Arthur Abel are nearly finished pulling their cannabis plants from the high tunnels they call "gnome domes," where 10 different strains grew throughout the summer.

"We've got probably over half our crop already dried and partly cured," Leif said Wednesday, standing in one of the facility's four rooms, surrounded by bins of marijuana being processed by workers.

Around 75 pounds of dried marijuana had been processed so far, Leif said. The company is hoping for roughly 100 pounds from this first crop.