The owners of Frozen Budz have high hopes now that they've received Alaska's first retail marijuana licence.

Destiny Neade, co-owner of the Fairbanks business, received a round of applause from the audience after she won unanimous approval for the inaugural permit from the five-man Alaska Marijuana Control Board.

She clapped with both hands above her head after getting the OK.

As she walked back to her seat, she told the audience, "Now all I need is some herb."

"I'm excited because I really need to start making some money," Neade told The Associated Press.

She and her husband Nick Neade have poured more than $150,000 into their fledgling business. They hope to open the shop by Oct. 1.

U.S. News Updates

Alaska

Alaska marijuana regulators have delayed by at least another month a decision on allowing people to buy marijuana products to smoke, inhale or consume in food in authorized stores.

The Marijuana Control Board has wrestling with the issue since last year. But board member Loren Jones said Wednesday that he wanted more time to consider it.

The matter was tabled until next month's meeting, over the objections of the board's two industry members.

The board is in unchartered territory. The three other states that have legalized recreational marijuana ban its public use, including in pot stores.

The board regulating Alaska's fledgling legal marijuana industry is expected to approve licenses this week for the state's first retail marijuana outlets.

The Marijuana Control Board is expected to consider dozens of license applications for marijuana businesses and discuss the key issue of whether certain retail stores will be allowed to have areas on their premises where consumers could light up.

Alaska's first marijuana retail shops are expected to open by the end of 2016.

But the board is trying to find a way to accommodate tourists interested in partaking in legal marijuana who otherwise are prohibited from using marijuana in public.

Alaska’s attorney general says marijuana social clubs are illegal under state law.

In a legal opinion issued on Wednesday, Jahna Lindemuth said if a place of business is not a licensed retail marijuana store, it is illegal for anyone to consume marijuana on the premises.

Since voters passed a ballot measure in 2014 liberalizing restrictions on personal use of marijuana and authorizing a commercial industry to develop, clubs have popped up in various parts of Alaska where members or guests are invited to use pot. The places typically charge an entrance or membership fee.

You know wine. You’re about to learn cannabis.

Earlier this month, Rainforest Farms became Juneau’s first working cannabis farm. Among its 240-some plants are 55 different varieties of pot. Two other Juneau farms have applied for licenses, and four other farms have started the licensing process, according to records kept by the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.

By the end of October, when retail sales are expected to begin, consumers will be confronted with dozens of different cannabis options. For connoisseurs, it promises to be a buffet of choice. For the rest of us, it’s cause for curiosity. Isn’t weed … well, weed?

Study from: 

Projectknow.com (http://www.projectknow.com/)

original study here :

http://www.projectknow.com/discover/high-school-drug-use/

American teenagers are more likely to smoke marijuana than binge drink, a new report reveals.

Meanwhile in Europe, marijuana consumption is minimal while drinking levels are far higher than in the United States.

The data, published in a recent report by addiction-awareness firm Project Know, will reignite the national debate on marijuana legalization as the election approaches.

Bruce Schulte at a press conference held by the Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation in February 2015. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)

One of the state’s key regulators on commercial cannabis has been unexpectedly ousted by the governor.

Bruce Schulte was active in the 2014 ballot initiative legalizing commercial marijuana in Alaska. He then served as chair of the Marijuana Control Board, a position with tremendous influence in crafting regulations for the new industry.

Recently though, he’d been voted out of the chairmanship. And last Friday, Schulte — who is a commercial pilot — landed after a flight to find an unexpected voicemail.

An outgoing member of the Alaska Marijuana Control Board says some officials in Gov. Bill Walker's administration, as well as remaining board members, are attempting to delay implementation of the voter-approved commercial cannabis industry.

"There's an underlying agenda to subvert the process, to delay the implementation of a legalized marijuana industry," says Bruce Schulte, who was abruptly removed from the five-member board on Friday by the governor. "It doesn't look like the State of Alaska is really serious about making this happen."

A replacement was not immediately announced.

The Internal Revenue Service is after cannabis companies in Colorado, sparking uncertainty and unease among cannabis businesses. The newest audits are focusing on Form 8300, which is the form used to report cash transactions of $10,000 or more. The IRS is investigating large cash transactions which have been processed by these businesses for evidence of money laundering and underreporting of business income. While some marijuana-related businesses in Colorado have already been able to settle their Form 8300 audits, other business owners are dealing with audits from the IRS regarding Section 280E.