{"id":10640,"date":"2016-12-15T22:41:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T06:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/anchorage-gets-first-hit-of-retail-pot\/"},"modified":"2016-12-15T22:41:03","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T06:41:03","slug":"anchorage-gets-first-hit-of-retail-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/anchorage-gets-first-hit-of-retail-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"Anchorage gets first hit of retail pot"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANCHORAGE \u2014 <\/strong>Possibly the unlikeliest customer of all became the first person to legally buy marijuana in Alaska\u2019s largest city.<\/p>\n

Anna Ercoli, 81, pulled into Arctic Herbery\u2019s small parking lot at 8:30 a.m., 3 \u00bd hours before the store was to open and become the first legal retail marijuana store in Anchorage.<\/p>\n

She was waiting at the store when owner Bryan Thorp pulled in Thursday morning. He gave her a red ticket stamped with No. 1601, indicating she would be the first in line. He told her she didn\u2019t have to wait around for hours in the 15-degree weather and could come back closer to the noon opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need this medication for me because it works better than taking anti-pain or sleeping pills, and not really solving anything,\u201d said Ercoli, a native of Italy who has lived in Anchorage for 45 years.<\/p>\n

Just before noon, she was escorted into the cramped retail location located in an industrial and residential area of midtown Anchorage.<\/p>\n

A clerk helped her pick out a 2.5 gram vial of Afghan Kush flour to mix with an ointment to provide pain relief. She paid the $52.50 bill ($50 vial, $2.50 tax) in cash after being told she could only buy one vial on this trip. She then scurried out the store, trying to avoid a crush of reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really the only thing that when I put it on my skin, I can go to sleep and I can sleep because I have no pain,\u201d she said before boarding a shuttle bus to get back to her car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWasn\u2019t she cute?\u201d Thorp asked reporters. \u201cThat was the perfect first customer I could ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a muted yet festive atmosphere for the store\u2019s opening. The store has limited parking, and state law says only eight people \u2014 including employees \u2014 can be inside the cramped store at any given point. Parking was a problem, with business neighbors complaining to Thorp that his customers were using their spaces.<\/p>\n

Thorp reminded about 50 people standing in line that they would be towed if they parked in the neighboring strip mall, and he reminded them he had arranged a shuttle service from a shopping area about three miles away so this wouldn\u2019t happen. Plus, those who took the shuttle would be entered into a drawing for a large Double Perk Water Bong, valued at $200.<\/p>\n

Thorp has arranged to sell three different strains of marijuana from Black Rapids LLC, a cultivation facility located in North Pole. \u201cOne of them is some of the best that AK has seen at 22% THC,\u201d Thorp wrote in a text to The Associated Press earlier this week.<\/p>\n

While this is Anchorage\u2019s first legal retail store, others have opened in cities across the state. The first was Herbal Outfitters in Valdez, on Oct. 29.<\/p>\n

Since then, fewer than 10 other stores have opened in Alaska, but more are planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got more stores opening in town, they\u2019re coming,\u201d Thorp said. \u201cWe got more cultivators that are coming. We got manufacturers that will be making edibles at some time in the future. It will happen, it\u2019s starting to happen right here, so it\u2019s a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alaskans in November 2014 approved the recreational use of marijuana for those 21 and older. State regulators have spent the time since setting up the new industry.<\/p>\n

The Alaska Marijuana Control Board is still wrestling with proposed rules that would allow onsite consumption of marijuana or marijuana products in authorized retails stores. The board is taking public comment until Jan. 13.<\/p>\n

Donavan Brown, 31, was among the first in line Thursday at Arctic Herbery. He said it was \u201cpretty exciting\u201d to see Anchorage\u2019s first dispensary open, a day he said he never thought he\u2019d see.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a piece of history, however small it may be,\u201d he said. \u201cI just kind of wanted to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, it was a good chance to stock up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got some friends coming back into town, they\u2019re going to be here for Christmas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have a great taco night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANCHORAGE \u2014 Possibly the unlikeliest customer of all became the first person to legally buy marijuana in Alaska\u2019s largest city. Anna Ercoli, 81, pulled into Arctic Herbery\u2019s small parking lot at 8:30 a.m., 3 \u00bd hours before the store was to open and become the first legal retail marijuana store in Anchorage. She was waiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":10641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10640"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}