Former TV news anchor turned marijuana activist, Charlo Greene—who famously quipped "fuck it, I quit" before marching off the set of Anchorage's KTVA back in 2014—has plans to return to the airwaves. 

Over a year after her abrupt on-air resignation to become an advocate and entrepreneur in the cannabis industry, Greene has combined her passions to create The Charlo Greene Show, which she describes as "the Oprah Winfrey Show for WEED" on the project's Kickstarter page. 

While many Alaska communities are looking to tighten restrictions on marijuana businesses, two Southeast cities are hoping for fewer constraints on the fledgling cannabis industry.

Petersburg and Sitka, two island cities in Southeast Alaska, have asked the state to reconsider its rules about buffer zones, saying they want more freedom to choose how far a marijuana business must be from certain facilities.

Under Alaska’s commercial marijuana laws, canna-businesses must be 500 feet from schools, churches, correctional facilities, and recreational or youth centers.

As the state readies for the implementation of a legal cannabis industry in the next few months, Alaska Public Media is profiling one business along every step of the way.

Jane Stinson is is a “green entrepreneur” hoping to open a family-run retail shop in Anchorage. But the last few months of tracking regulations, securing a location, and figuring out how to start a new business that banks won’t lend to has not been easy.

Stinson is not exactly who you think of as the face of legal pot in Alaska. She’s in her 60s, tall, with the calming presence of a sturdy aunt.

“I’ve been in Alaska for 36 years, and my background has been in the oil and gas industry, so I had my career there and just recently retired.”

When it comes to setting up a pot business in Anchorage, the way its distance is measured from a school can make a big difference in whether the business is allowed or not.

At its most recent meeting, amid a flurry of amendments to land use regulations, the Anchorage Assembly passed conflicting rules for the measurement method. One amendment, from Assemblymembers Amy Demboski and Bill Starr, specified that distances would be measured "as the crow flies" -- from the edge of a marijuana business to the lot line of a protected area -- instead of by pedestrian routes, which could be more circuitous.

Related: 

Assembly members in Anchorage have passed a bundle of rules that will shape the business landscape for the state’s largest commercial cannabis market in the months and years ahead.

Anybody attempting to make marijuana concentrates using butane, propane or any other such chemical had better think twice. Not only could using these gases result in a potentially deadly explosion, they will now result in misdemeanor charges, too.

Without objection, the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly passed an ordinance Monday evening making it illegal for anybody without a license or permit to make marijuana concentrate — waxes, oils, etc. — using extraction methods that are not alcohol-, food- or water-based. This ordinance applies to all city zones; no permit or license, no gas-based extraction.

UPDATE:

Assembly members have approved an amendment allowing marijuana businesses to be established within 1000 feet of a school or a playground. The amendment, which passed with a 6-5 vote, sets buffer zones around schools at 500 feet.

The 500 foot buffer zone will also apply to preschools, child care facilities and homeless shelters.

After the amendment passed, Assembly member Amy Demboski proposed a new amendment excluding Chugiak and Eagle River from the 500 foot buffer zone regulation, instead allowing those areas to keep the original 1000 foot zones. The amendment passed by a 10-1 vote.

A proposal to extend buffer zones between marijuana businesses and video arcades from 100 feet to 500 feet failed.

The Anchorage Assembly will vote on two ordinances at a Tuesday meeting that will finalize marijuana regulations within the municipality. While both ordinances are expected to pass, lawmakers are less certain about which of the eight amendments will be included in the new regulations.

The first of the ordinances, Title 21, deals with zoning and land use. A major concern voiced at the municipality's last public hearing were the proposed buffer zones between schools and businesses selling marijuana. Currently, the ordinance sets the buffer at 1000 feet.

Federal law requires that drug-free school zones be placed 1,000 feet from schools and playgrounds. The state requirement however, is 500 feet.

The founders of Kush Bottles Inc. developed packaging specifically for legal marijuana sales.

Plastic marijuana packaging has become, ah-hem, a growth industry.

With more than 40 percent of all states already allowing medical marijuana, and four of those also permitting recreational use, the packaging for Panama Red, Acapulco Gold and all those other colorfully named strains is heavily dependent on plastics.

Both flexible and rigid packaging helps keep the nation’s stash fresh for both the casual smoker in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska and medicinal users in 23 states.

And those packages aren’t just holding marijuana plants, as there are a whole host of edibles and concentrates for folks who don’t always, or ever, want to light up.