KETCHIKAN — Officials who shaped marijuana policy in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough last year are meeting again to tackle issues relating to the transportation of pot.
Ketchikan’s Marijuana Advisory Committee will meet to discuss whether local policy should change as a result of state and federal differences over air and water travel, The Ketchikan Daily News reported.
Alaska doesn’t have a permitting requirement for legal transportation of marijuana products, while federal law restricts pot from being transported by sea or air.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly decided Monday to have the committee meet to discuss the issues, but a date for the meeting has not yet been set.
The federal rules present a challenge for many Southeast Alaska communities that lack access to pot testing facilities.
State regulations require marijuana products to be tested for THC content and other criteria before they are sold, but there’s “nothing in regs that stipulate how they get their product tested,” said Bruce Schulte, chairman of the Marijuana Control Board, earlier this month.
Current borough policy is similar to the state’s, according to the borough’s Planning Department.
“That does not mean that the (state) Marijuana Control Board will not be addressing comments from local government or individuals that object to such transportation violations,” states a Monday report by the Planning Department.
The marijuana committee has been mostly dormant since approving its final set of policy recommendations for the borough in 2015. The group is comprised of leaders from the Assembly, Ketchikan and Saxman city councils and the Ketchikan School Board.
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Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com
