Anchorage Assembly Postpones Opening of a Cannabis Dispensary

One cannabis dispensary in Anchorage, Alaska was slated to open soon, however a recent decision by the Anchorage Assembly led to the postponement of that dispensary’s launch.

An unscheduled vote by the Anchorage Assembly was announced in favor of having the municipal clerk hold off on processing a cannabis license for a dispensary called Arctic Herbery. According to 2KTUU, this decision was meant to “punish” the business.

“I can’t emphasize enough how proactive I believe this body will be in yanking the license or bringing back bad operators to answer to the community,” stated Amy Demboski at the assembly meeting on Tuesday, November 1.

Another assemblyperson, Dick Traini, told KTUU that he was the first to bring up the idea to postpone the dispensary’s opening. He claims that the reason for this decision was because the owner of the dispensary, Brian Thorp, was giving out free cannabis on October 21, which was a few weeks before his business license actually went into effect. “The samples that I’ve been given from these cultivators, I’ve just been handing them out,” Thorp said.

The Assembly believes that Arctic Herbery crossed a line when it began giving out free cannabis, “We’re willing to support these people, we’re willing to give them a licenses [sic], but you’ve got to maintain the regulations we have,” Traini said. “I don’t think this individual did.”

Unfortunately for the dispensary, the delay in its opening could be detrimental to its success.