Photos: Alaska Green Angels offer free medical marijuana

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A marijuana Alaska flag hangs on the wall as a group talks about the Alaska Green Angels, the group that gives out free medical marijuana, in south Anchorage, AK on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015.

While Alaska's commercial marijuana market slowly forges ahead, some residents aren't waiting for retail businesses to surface and are instead providing cannabis to the severely ill and veterans, all free of charge.

Alaska Green Angels is one of these groups that has been giving away free cannabis for the past year. It was started as reaction to what the group feels is a medical marijuana system that has failed its patients -- although the state disagrees.

On a Tuesday afternoon in December, a dozen of the group's members gathered at a storefront in Anchorage. A seemingly disparate group, they ranged in ages and appearance. One young woman wore a neatly tied ponytail; another man with tattoos on his neck huddled in a camo jacket; an older woman in jeans stood the entire meeting.

Their stories were similarly disparate. Some were military veterans battling PTSD. One woman had shattered her pelvis and broken her back. Another man had Crohn's disease and recently had a section of his intestine removed; another woman had a spinal infection.

The common thread between their stories was pain, and the treatment of their pain with cannabis.

READ MORE: Alaska groups give free cannabis to severely ill, veterans