Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom has signed new rules which allow Alaska’s marijuana legal businesses to market more widely as well as to offer free marijuana samples at retail stores.
The rules, which were signed on 8 september. 8 go into effect on Oct. 8 and make up a large set of changes to the regulatory framework that affects the marijuana industry in the state.
Following the time that Alaska approved its marijuana cultivation, sale and distribution for recreational use at the end of 2014, it adopted strict regulations to regulate the industry.
Nine years later the rules are starting to relax, thanks to changes to the tax code as well as relaxed standards regarding food items and drive-up windows and other initiatives or already in place or in the near future.
Joan Wilson, director of the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office She said that the planned changes to advertising were the result of a taskforce that is working on updating rules.
The first advertising regulations were created to conform to guidelines set by Anchorage. Municipality of Anchorage, she stated, but many communities have looser rulesor no rules at all, and licensees have no idea why they need to follow Anchorage standards if they’re not in the city.
The new rules require marijuana businesses to follow local restrictions on signage as well as the state’s ban on billboards. It could result in additional advertising signs appearing on the premises of marijuana-related businesses, she said It will be local authorities’ duty to oversee them, should they decide to do so.
As soon as the new rules come in force, marijuana advertisements are now legal on buses, in bus stop shelters as well as on campuses of colleges.
The rules for promotion that were put in place after marijuana was legalized also prohibit retailers from offering coupons or samples. The restrictions were also lifted.
“I’m not expecting a plethora of marijuana to come out the front door,” Wilson said.
She and other members in the industry of marijuana imagine small amounts.
The change is going to affect some alcohol companies as well. Beginning January. 1st onward, liquor stores are able to apply for an endorsement to their license which allows them to provide free samples of hard-alcohol.
The story was originally published in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
