Alaska Marijuana News

Anchorage's first pot shop opens, but you'll only be able to buy plants

Two marijuana stores are nearly ready for business in Anchorage.

Arctic Herbery will open its doors Friday at noon, owner Bryant Thorp said. He'll only be selling immature cannabis plants, called clones, along with non-marijuana merchandise like glass pipes.

Northern Lights will be the first strain of cannabis plants that Thorp puts out for sale. He'll sell three or six plants to a customer, for $70 or $140, respectively. People can't buy more than the legal transport limit of six, and Thorp won't sell single plants due to packaging expenses, he said.

Only eight people are allowed in the shop at once, including employees, Thorp said.

"Please park gently," Thorp said. "Don't park illegally. Don't park on my neighbors' lots."

Thorp said he'll have marijuana bud for sale next week, arriving from Black Rapids' cultivation facility in Fairbanks.

[Here's how much Alaska made in taxes from the first few days of legal marijuana sales]

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Meanwhile, downtown marijuana shop Alaska Fireweed also plans to open next week, likely on Saturday, Dec. 17, co-owner Susan Nowland said Thursday.

The Fourth Avenue store will have cannabis from Greatland Ganja on the Kenai Peninsula and "quite a bit of merchandise" for sale, including branded T-shirts and hats, Nowland said.

Anchorage has a 5 percent sales tax on marijuana and marijuana products, like edibles or concentrates. It is the state's last urban center that has no shops open, besides the Matanuska-Susitna valley area, where the industry was put on hold due to a proposed commercial cannabis ban that was voted down in October.

Arctic Herbery had originally planned to open in early November, but the license process was temporarily halted after a media report that Thorp had given away free samples led to a violation notice with the state and an eventual fine from the municipality.

The state's first marijuana store opened in Valdez on Oct. 29, quickly followed by two stores in Fairbanks. A shop on the Kenai Peninsula opened Nov. 21 and a Juneau marijuana shop on Nov. 25 .

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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