The new chair of the state board tasked with regulating Alaska's fledgling marijuana industry took an active role in a campaign asking voters whether to ban commercial cannabis on the Kenai Peninsula, which he says — and state attorneys agree — is within his rights as a citizen.

Peter Mlynarik gathered signatures this summer for the petition to put the question of a ban on the ballot. The signatures were submitted Tuesday afternoon to the Kenai borough clerk's office.

He was one of 30 petition-booklet holders who collected signatures, according to Katie Ring, borough clerk secretary. Borough Assembly member Stan Welles was also listed as a petition-book holder.

The legal weed industry is dominated by men.

Consumers are reaching for cannabis nearly as often as they are for a can of beer, a new report has found.

The typical male customer spends about $647 annually on marijuana products, while female consumers drop about $634 each year on weed, MarketWatch reported. That’s compared to an average of $645 a year on alcohol and $1,000 a year on coffee, according to a survey from Headset, which tracks weed transactions.

The Anchorage Assembly approved the city's first commercial marijuana grow Tuesday night, a significant step forward for the developing legal cannabis industry.

"This whole green revolution, it starts here tonight with the City of Anchorage," said Assemblyman Dick Traini who voted to approve the local marijuana license and special-use permit for Dream Green Farms and to refer the application for a second proposed commercial marijuana grow, Arctic Herbery, to an Assembly committee for additional review after a flurry of late-night debate.

Heliospectra AB (publ) (OTCQB:HLSPY, FIRSTNORTH:HELIO), a world leader in intelligent lighting technology for controlled environments horticulture, is pleased to announce that Green Leaf, a recently licensed cannabis cultivation facility in Alaska, selected the Heliospectra LED lighting system. Green Leaf owner-operator Aaron Bean chose the Heliospectra LED-based solution after determining that it is the only product in the marketplace with the power and versatility to support every stage of the cannabis growth cycle.

An Alaska marijuana advocate says the state is making progress towards legalization, even if it's not fast enough for some Canadian tourists.

"Weekly, I hear from tourists who come up and are confused because they couldn't find the open shops yet," says Leif Abel, who chairs the Alaska Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation.

He says there have been delays in the law, but he accepts it's a complicated project.

Leif Abel has plans to legally grow marijuana in Kasilof, Alaska. He says the delays are understandable and is urging Canadians to be patient and respect the law. (Leif Abel/Facebook)

This week, the latest version of the state's draft rules were sent for public consultation.

If you're looking for a cannabis-friendly vacation spot, some destinations are no-brainers: Jamaica. Denver. And even Uruguay, which legalized cannabis in 2013.

But for those who prefer more off-the-beaten track travel with top-notch cannabis, and minimal restrictions on possession and consumption, you might want to pack your parka and plan ahead for a trip to Alaska.

Acceptance of marijuana seems to have reached a tipping point in the United States. Four states and the District of Columbia have already legalized it, half the states have medical marijuana laws now (two-thirds if you count the CBD-only states), and as many as a half dozen states, including California, could vote on legalization in November.

Public opinion polls now consistently report majority support for legalization nationwide, and pot is increasingly moving from newspapers' crime pages to the finance and culture sections.

To Keith Crocker, it's clear marijuana could be the logical next step in pushing Juneau's tourism industry to a higher level.

That's why he and business partner Mitchell Knottingham created Juneau Cannabis Tours.

Their idea — to give tours of Alaska's new marijuana industry in action — is a glimpse into a potential new piece of the state's visitor economy.

Some Alaskans are mulling the idea of starting up marijuana tourism companies, while others already have business licenses, but all seem to be biding their time until more commercial marijuana licenses are approved later this year.

Going on marijuana tours in Denver gave Crocker and Knottingham insight into the sort of company they wanted to build in Alaska.

The THC in the marijuana plant is medicinal and the fibers in hemp can be used in manufacturing. This has led to marijuana being legalized in some states in the US. This includes states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. It is expected that 16 more states will legalize the use of marijuana within the next 5 years. 14 of these states will legalize the use of recreational marijuana and 2 states will legalize medical marijuana. It is projected that by the end of 2019, legal marijuana will bring in a combined income of $ 19 billion in all the states that it has been legalized in.

With 22.2 million Americans reporting they've gotten high within the past month, it's no secret that the U.S. is having an increasingly open love affair with cannabis. But which states are the most open-minded when it comes to cannabis?