Anchorage is one step closer to having its first legal pot shop.
On Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly gave unanimous approval to Arctic Herbery, the first time a retail cannabis business has met both state and local requirements in Alaska’s largest city.
And to the surprise of many, the issue received no debate before passing 11 to 0. It was only at the meeting’s end that assembly member John Weddleton pointed out the significance.
“With breathtaking speed we blew by the notable first approval of a retail marijuana establishment in Anchorage,” Weddleton said to applause from members of the audience.
In recent weeks, the owner’s business plan has been vetted in sub-committees, leaving assembly members with a degree of familiarity on many of the specifics.
The shop’s owner, Bryant Thorp, said after the meeting that while he may get a slight bump in sales if he’s the first retail shop to open in Anchorage, he was also the test case for city regulators as they examined his license application under a microscope.
“I’ve taken a beating here and there, but it’s OK, I knew it was something that wasn’t going to be easy when I started,” Thorp said, who’s background is in real-estate and managing a post office. “But when I decided I wanted to do this I expected the worst, and I came prepared for it.”
Thorp’s business plan received criticism from some members of the community council in the Taku-Cambell area. As well as by local regulators over traffic: the small shop, which can only accommodate four patrons at any one time, has just five parking spaces, which caused some logistical concerns.
Arctic Herbery isn’t the state’s first business to get this far. Local governments in Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula, and southeast have been more expedient than Anchorage in deciding whether to allow cannabis businesses to move forward.
But no matter where in the state, everyone is still waiting for full approval of the testing facilities that’ll be able to certify cannabis products. Only two such facilities have met state and local requirements, and both are in Anchorage, but not yet ready to open. Until then, there’s not technically any legal pot for retail shops to legally sell.
Thorp said he’d been told by the testing facilities they expect to be up and running by the end of October, after which point he’s hoping to greet his first customers.
Zachariah Hughes reports on city & state politics, arts & culture, drugs, and military affairs in Anchorage and South Central Alaska.
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