State Marijuana Control Board votes to extend marijuana curbside, drive-thru pickup options

A worker holds up a jar with marijuana offered for sale at Montana Advanced Caregivers, a...
A worker holds up a jar with marijuana offered for sale at Montana Advanced Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary, Nov. 11, 2020, in Billings, Mont.(AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
Published: Nov. 23, 2020 at 7:57 PM AKST
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Monday, the state’s Marijuana Control Board voted to again allow the pick up of marijuana through drive-thru and curbside delivery.

The original emergency declaration to allow this type of distribution expired on Nov. 15. The board says this was because there was no indication on whether the governor would extend the statewide emergency declaration.

The State Alcohol Board moved to further their emergency ordinance, allowing delivery and curbside pick up last week. Some marijuana control board members were hesitant about the emergency declaration as the pandemic extended for several months.

“I think we need to strongly consider what emergency means. None of this is new. We are a long way into this. We are setting all of the precedents under emergency scenarios when people have had time to deliberate and come up with permanent regulation changes and whether we need to do that,” says Casey Dschaak, a member of the Marijuana Control Board.

Others say the customers were concerned over whether they could access marijuana without being exposed to COVID-19.

This new emergency regulation will end after 120 days. The board also voted to allow public comment on making the emergency order permanent though whenever the governor ends the statewide emergency. The board said they are accepting public comment until their next meeting in January.

The new regulation will not go into effect until it passed through the lieutenant governor’s office, which could take several days.

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