In this Feb. 20, 2015 photo, Alaska Cannabis Club CEO Charlo Greene prepares to roll a joint at the medical marijuana dispensary in Anchorage, Alaska. (Mark Thiessen | Associated Press File)

In this Feb. 20, 2015 photo, Alaska Cannabis Club CEO Charlo Greene prepares to roll a joint at the medical marijuana dispensary in Anchorage, Alaska. (Mark Thiessen | Associated Press File)

Should Juneau change its laws to allow marijuana consumption at certain locations? The city just weighed in

City could follow the state’s lead in letting some retailers to allow smoking and edibles

The future of onsite marijuana consumption in Juneau is hazy, but it could be getting clearer.

The City and Borough of Juneau Committee of the Whole voted Monday evening to explore the possibility of changing city ordinance to allow eating edibles and smoking marijuana at authorized locations.

“I want to pursue it, I want to analyze it, I want to see if it’s viable,” said Deputy Mayor Maria Gladziszewski. “I want to give people who come here on ships a legal place to do what’s legal.”

The exploration comes in the wake of the state’s decision to allow onsite consumption at marijuana distributors that have to apply for a special onsite use endorsement and devise plans that meet security, ventilation and other standards and pass muster with the Marijuana Control Board.

[Alaska approves onsite marijuana use in certain areas]

The committee’s decision to explore allowing onsite use of edibles and smoking of marijuana was made via two separate votes. The edible vote passed 7-2 with Assembly members Mary Becker and Loren Jones voting against the idea.

The smoking vote was closer — 5-4. Becker and Jones also voted against that, and they were joined by Mayor Beth Weldon and Assembly member Michelle Bonnet Hale. Assembly members Carole Triem, Rob Edwardson, Wade Bryson, Alicia Hughes-Skandijs and Gladziszewski voted in favor of it.

“We’ll be talking about those again,” Gladziszewski said.

There was much discussion already about the possibility of both onsite consumption of edibles and smoking marijuana.

Jones said no one is going to want to sit in an approved space and wait an hour or two for edibles to kick in, and Becker said she was not in favor of breaking the federal prohibition on marijuana in general.

“I’m going to vote no on the edibles, and if the smoking comes up, I will vote so adamantly no the whole city will hear me,” Becker said.

Jones also said no one is going to get busted for eating an edible candy in public, so changing the ordinance seems unnecessary.

Triem and Alicia Hughes-Skandijs each said marijuana consumption should be treated the same as alcohol consumption since both intoxicants are equally legal in Alaska. That logic was applied to both smoking marijuana and use of edibles.

Assembly members who opposed exploring onsite marijuana smoking said smoking indoors would be a violation of the city’s clean air ordinance.

Bryson said allowing onsite smoking may make the air quality better downtown and be good business.

“There are literally hundreds of thousands of people that are coming, and if we give them a place to legally purchase the marijuana and smoke the marijuana, we’re creating another industry,” Bryson said. “We’re going to create a better atmosphere in our downtown district. If everyone is smoking marijuana on the streets, which is the case now, it’s not very inviting to families.”

More in News

Seward City Clerk Kris Peck, right, administers an oath of office to Seward City Council newcomer Casie Warner during a council meeting in Seward, Alaska, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Screenshot courtesy City of Seward)
Seward City Council swears in winners of October municipal election

They were sworn in two weeks after the council certified its election results

Duane Bannock speaks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough’s tourism industry working group takes shape

The group will explore the effects of a potential bed tax

Assembly Member Peter Ribbens speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Ribbens, Cooper named new heads of borough assembly

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly reorganized during their Oct. 22 meeting

A special weather statement for the western Kenai Peninsula was issued Monday by the National Weather Service. The area will see strong gusty winds and rain late tonight and through Tuesday morning. A winter storm warning remains in effect from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday for areas of the eastern peninsula. (Image via weather.gov)
Windy weather heads for western Kenai Peninsula

The western Kenai Peninsula will experience some windy and wet conditions Tuesday and Wednesday.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish to consider set beach seines for east side setnet fishery

Seines were tested on local beaches this summer in effort helmed by Lisa and Brian Gabriel

Sockeye salmon are gathered together at a test site for selective harvest setnet gear in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish to consider expansion of commercial dipnetting fishery

Discussion of expanded time, days and season of commercial dipnet fishery scheduled for March

The Alaska Board of Fisheries hears public testimony at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Feb. 18, 1999. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion file)
Board of Fisheries again declines to hold Upper Cook Inlet meeting on Kenai Peninsula

The State Board of Fisheries this week rejected calls from the Kenai… Continue reading

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski takes a selfie with Rose Burke at the Kenai Municipal Airport in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Burke won the 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest and will travel to Washington, D.C., in December to light the tree. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Connections student to light U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Rose Burke, 9, won the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest and will travel to Washington D.C.

Most Read