The Anchorage Assembly voted Tuesday night to table an ordinance that would’ve legalized marijuana smoking at businesses with on-site consumption endorsements from the city and state.
Assembly Vice Chair Anna Brawley moved to postpone the ordinance indefinitely, citing Anchorage voters’ rejection in 2020 of a similar ballot proposition by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
“It does leave more opportunity to bring back a new item and potentially take more time with that, if that's desired,” Brawley said. “But I don’t see how we would go against the will of the voters so soon.”
East Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez introduced the ordinance earlier this month.
Alaska voters intended to regulate the marijuana industry in a similar way to the alcohol industry when they legalized recreational use in 2014, Martinez said. While Anchorage voters rejected on-site consumption, he said state regulations are more comprehensive now.
“Five years later, we're in a different place,” Martinez said. “Today, the state has fully developed strict rules for on-site consumption, including and all the way through inhalation, with requirements for ventilation, employee protections and separate areas from retail.”
Midtown Anchorage Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day expressed concerns over public safety. She said measuring public intoxication from marjuana isn’t as straightforward as alcohol.
“If, in the future, the technology existed that we could treat marijuana consumption in the same way that we do alcohol consumption and have an objective metric for measuring intoxication, I might feel differently,” Baldwin Day said. “But at this point, I think it's very premature.”
Assembly members voted 7 to 3 to postpone the ordinance indefinitely, with members Chris Constant and Felix Rivera joining Martinez in opposition to postponement.
According to state marijuana regulators, there are five licensed facilities for on-site consumption in Alaska, including two in Fairbanks, and one each in Seward, Soldotna and Ketchikan.
