Recreational:

Fifty-three percent of Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 2 on Election Day, permitting those over the age of 21 to lawfully possess up to one ounce of marijuana and/or to grow up to six marijuana plants (no more than three mature) for non-commercial purposes. Sharing or gifting personal use quantities of marijuana is also permitted under the new law; however the consumption of cannabis in public remains an offense.

Lawmakers will now begin the process of establishing licensing requirements for those who wish to commercially produce cannabis and/or engage in the plant’s retail sale. State regulators have up to nine months to enact rules to govern these commercial entities and are expected to begin granting operator permits by February 2016.

Since 1975, Alaskans have enjoyed personal privacy protections based on a state Supreme Court decision allowing for the possession and cultivation of personal use amounts of cannabis in one’s home. However, state lawmakers had never before codified these protections into law or permitted a legal market for marijuana production and sales.

Alaska is the third state – following Colorado and Washington – to legalize the personal possession of marijuana by adults and to license the plant’s retail production and sales. Oregon voters in November approved similar legislation (Measure 91), which is scheduled to go into effect later this year.

Medical:

State and Relevant Medical Marijuana Laws

Ballot Measure 8 — Approved Nov. 3, 1998 by 58% of voters
Effective: Mar. 4, 1999Removed state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients who possess written documentation from their physician advising that they “might benefit from the medical use of marijuana.”

Approved Conditions:
Cachexia, cancer, chronic pain, epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity, and nausea. Other conditions are subject to approval by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

Possession/Cultivation:
Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess no more than one ounce of usable marijuana, and may cultivate no more than six marijuana plants, of which no more than three may be mature. The law establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.

Amended:
Senate Bill 94
Effective: June 2, 1999

Mandates all patients seeking legal protection under this act to enroll in the state patient registry and possess a valid identification card. Patients not enrolled in the registry will no longer be able to argue the “affirmative defense of medical necessity” if they are arrested on marijuana charges.

Update:
Alaska Statute Title 17 Chapter 37

Creates a confidential statewide registry of medical marijuana patients and caregivers and establishes identification card.

Contact and Program Details

Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics
Marijuana Registry
P.O. Box 110699
Juneau, AK 99811-0699
Phone: 907-465-5423BVSSpecialServices@health.state.ak.us

Website:
AK Marijuana Registry Online

Information provided by the state on sources for medical marijuana:
No information is provided

Patient Registry Fee:
$25 new application/$20 renewal

Accepts other states’ registry ID cards?
No

Registration:
Mandatory

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Not all information from each bill is listed here. We have extracted information that is relevant to business ownership.

Senate Bill Number 94

Registry of patients and listing of caregivers

The department shall create and maintain a confidential registry of patients who have applied for and are entitled to receive a registry identification card according to the criteria set out in this chapter. The registry must also contain the name of the primary caregiver and the name of the alternate caregiver of a patient, if either is designated by the patient. Only one primary caregiver and one alternate caregiver may be listed in the registry for a patient. The registry and the information contained within it are not a public record.

Confidentiality

Peace officers and authorized employees of state or municipal local law enforcement agencies shall be granted access to the information contained within the department’s confidential registry only for the purpose of verifying that an individual who has presented a registry identification card to a state or municipal local law. No person other than authorized employees of the department in the course of their official duties, may not [SHALL] be permitted to gain access to names of patients, physicians, primary or alternate caregivers, or any information related to such persons maintained in connection with the department’s confidential registry.

Confidentiality Exception

Authorized employees of the department in the course of their official duties and authorized employees of state or local law enforcement agencies who have stopped or arrested a person who claims to be engaged in the medical use of marijuana and the possession of a registry identification card or its functional equivalent.

Card Registration Requirements

Uses of marijuana by an adult patient or a parent or guardian of a minor patient shall provide to the department a statement signed by the patient’s physician stating that the physician personally examined the patient and that the examination took place in the context of a bona-fide physician-patient relationship and setting out the date the examination occurred; the original or a copy of written documentation stating that the patient has been diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition and stating that the physician has considered other approved medications and treatments that might provide relief, and the physician’s conclusion that are reasonably available to the patient, and that can be tolerated by the patient and that the physician has concluded that the patient might benefit from the medical use of marijuana; a sworn application on a form provided by the department containing the following information: name, address, DoB and Alaska driver’s license or identification card, social security number; the name, address, and telephone number of the patient’s physician; and name, address, and telephone number of the patient’s primary caregiver. If the patient is a minor, the information must include documentation that the patient’s physician has explained the possible risks and benefits of medical use of marijuana and that the parent or guardian consents to serve as the primary caregiver for the patient and to control the acquisition, possession, dosage, and frequency of use of marijuana by the patient.

Caregivers

A person may be listed under this section as the primary caregiver or alternate caregiver for a patient if the person submits a sworn statement on a form provided by the department that the person is at least 21 years of age; has never been convicted of a felony offense under law or ordinance of another jurisdiction with elements similar to an offense under AS 11.71 or AS 11.73; is not currently on probation or parole from this or another jurisdiction. A person may be a primary caregiver or alternate caregiver for only one patient at a time unless the primary caregiver or alternate caregiver is simultaneously caring for two or more patients who are related to the caregiver by at least the fourth degree of kinship by blood or marriage.

Department Determination and Card Issuance

The department shall review the application and verify all information submitted under and of this section within 30 days of receiving it. The department shall notify the patient (applicant) that the patient’s application for a registry identification card has been denied if the department’s review of the information finds information required has not been provided or has been falsified or that the patient is not otherwise qualified to be registered. If the department determines that the primary caregiver or alternate caregiver is not qualified under this section to be a primary caregiver or alternate caregiver, or if the information required under this section has not been provided or has been falsified, the department shall notify the patient of that determination and shall proceed to review the patient’s application as if a primary caregiver or alternate caregiver as not designated. The patient may amend the application and designate a new primary caregiver or alternate caregiver at any time. The department may not list a newly designated primary caregiver or alternate caregiver until it determines that the newly designated primary caregiver or alternate caregiver is qualified under this section and that the information required under this section has been provided. Otherwise, not more than five days after verifying the information, the department shall issue a numbered registry identification card to the patient and, if a primary caregiver for a patient has been listed in the registry, the department shall issue to the patient a duplicate of the patient’s card clearly identified as the caregiver registry identification card, stating the patient’s name, address, date of birth, and Alaska driver’s license or identification card, social security number, verification of registration with the department and verification with state health agency as patent eligible for marijuana use, date of card issuance and expiration, license or identification card number of the patient’s primary caregiver and alternate caregiver. If the department fails to deny the application and issue a registry identification card within 35 days of receipt of an application, the patient’s application for the card is considered (deemed) to have been approved. Receipt of an application shall be considered (deemed) to have occurred upon delivery to the department or deposited in US mail. A person may not apply for a registry identification card more than once every six months. The denial or revocation of a registry identification card or the removal of a patient from the registry or the listing of a caregiver shall be considered a final agency action subject to judicial review. Only the patient or the parent or guardian of a patient who is a minor whose application has been denied has standing to contest the final agency action.

Always Have Paperwork Available

A patient or a primary caregiver who is questioned by a state or municipal law enforcement official about the patient’s or primary caregiver’s medical use of marijuana shall immediately show proper identification to the official and inform the official that the person is a registered patient or listed primary caregiver for a registered patient and either show the official the person’s registry identification card, or provide a copy of an application that has been pending without registration or denial for over days since received by the written documentation submitted to the department and proof of the date of mailing or other transmission of the written documentation for delivery to the department, which shall be accorded the same legal effect as a registry identification card until the patient receives actual notice that the application has been denied. A copy of a registry identification card is not valid. A registry identification card is not valid if the card has been altered, mutilated in a way that impairs its legibility, or laminated.

Changes to Registration Information

When there has been a change in the name, address, physician , or primary care-giver of a patient who has qualified for a registry identification card, the patient must notify the department and the state health agency within 10 days. To maintain an effective registry identification card, a patient must annually resubmit updated written documentation, including a statement signed by the patient’s physician containing the information required to be submitted, to the department state health agency, as well as the name and address of the patient’s primary caregiver or alternate caregiver. A patient who no longer has a debilitating medical condition and the patient’s primary caregiver, if any, shall return all registry identification. Cards to the department within 24 hours of receiving the diagnosis by the patient’s physician.

Caregivers

A primary caregiver may only act as the primary caregiver for the patient when the primary caregiver is in physical possession of the caregiver registry identification card. An alternate caregiver may only act as the primary caregiver for the patient when the alternate caregiver is in physical possession of the caregiver registry identification card.

Alternate Caregiver

In this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, “alternate caregiver” means a person who is listed as an alternate caregiver “Bona-Fide physician-patient relationship” means that the physician obtained a patient history, performed an in-person physical examination of the patient, and documented written findings, diagnoses, recommendations, and prescriptions in written patient medical records maintained by the physician.

Primary Caregiver

“Primary Caregiver” means a person listed as a primary caregiver and in physical possession of a caregiver registry identification card; “primary caregiver” also includes an alternate caregiver when the alternate caregiver is in physical possession of the caregiver registry identification card other than the patient’s physicaon, who is 18 years of age or older and has significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient who has a debilitating medical condition.

Department Regulatory Leeway

The department may revoke a patient’s registration if the department determines that the patient has violated a provision of the law. The department may remove a primary caregiver or alternate caregiver from the registry if the department determines that the primary caregiver or alternate caregiver is not qualified to be listed or has violated a provision of the law. The department may determine and levy reasonable fees to pay for any administrative costs associated with its role in administering this program. The department may not register a patient under this section unless the statement of the patient’s physician discloses that the patient was personally examined by the physician within the 16-month period immediately preceding the patient’s application. The department shall cancel, suspend, revoke or not renew the registration of a patient whose annual resubmission of updated written documentation to the department does not disclose that the patient was personally examined by the patient’s physician within the 16 month period immediately preceding the date by which the patient is required to annually resubmit written documentation.

Privileged medical use of marijuana.

A patient, primary caregiver, or alternate caregiver registered with the department under this chapter has an affirmative defense to a criminal prosecution related to marijuana to the extent provided for in the law. No patient or primary care-giver may be found guilty of or penalized in any manner for a violation of any provision of law related to the medical use of marijuana where it is provided by a preponderance of the evidence that the patient was diagnosed by a physician as having a debilitating medical condition the patient was advised by his or her physician in the context of a bona-fide physician-patient relationship, that the patent might benefit from the medical use of marijuana in connection what a debilitating medical condition, and the patient and his or her primary care-giver were collectively in possession of amounts of Marijuana only as permitted under this law. No patient or primary care-giver in lawful possession of a registry identification card shall be subject to arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner for medical use of marijuana or for applying to have the person’s name placed on the confidential registry maintained by the department.

Protection from Prosecution

Charging the manufacture, delivery, possession, possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, use, or display of a schedule VIA controlled substance, it is an affirmative defense that the defendant is a patient, or the primary caregiver or alternate caregiver for a patient, and at the time of the manufacture, delivery, possession, possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, use, or display, the patient was registered under; the manufacture, delivery, possession, possession with intent to manufacture, deliver, use, or display complied with the requirements of AS 17.37; and if the defendant is the primary caregiver of the patient, the defendant was in physical possession of the caregiver registry identification card at the time of the manufacture, delivery, possession, possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, use, or display; or alternate caregiver of the patient, the defendant was in physical possession of the caregiver registry identification card at the time of the manufacture, delivery, possession, possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, use, or display. Any property interest that is possessed, owned or used in connection with the medical use of Marijuana, or acts incidental to such use shall not me harmed, neglected injured or otherwise destroyed while in the possession of state or local law enforcement officials where such property has been seized in connection with the claimed medical use of Marijuana. Any such property interest shall not be forfeited under any provision of state or local law providing for the forfeiture of property other than as a sentence imposed after conviction of a criminal offense or entry of a plea of guilty to such offence. Marijuana and paraphernalia seized by the state or local law enforcement officials from a patient or primary care-giver in connection with the claimed medical use of Marijuana shall be returned immediately upon the determination that the patient or primary care-giver is entitled to the protection contained in this law, as may be evidenced for example by a decision not to prosecute, the dismissal of charges or acquittal.

Exception from Prosecution Protection

A person, including a patient, or primary caregiver, or alternate caregiver, is not entitled to the protection of this chapter if the person’s acquisition, possession, cultivation, use, sale, distribution, or transportation of marijuana for nonmedical use.

Restrictions on medical use of marijuana.

A patient primary caregiver, or alternate caregiver may not in lawful possession of a registry identification card engage in the medical use of marijuana in a way that endangers the health or well-being of any person; engage in the medical use of marijuana in plain view of, or in a place open to, the general public; this paragraph does not prohibit a patient or primary caregiver from possessing marijuana in a place open to the general public if the person possesses, in a closed container carried on the person, one ounce or less of marijuana in usable form; the marijuana is not visible to anyone other than the patient or primary caregiver; and the possession is limited to that necessary to transport the marijuana directly to the patient or primary caregiver or directly to a place where the patient or primary caregiver may lawfully possess or use the marijuana; sell or distribute marijuana to any person except that a patient may deliver marijuana to the patient’s primary caregiver and a primary caregiver may deliver marijuana to the patient for whom the caregiver is listed; or possess in the aggregate more than one ounce of marijuana in usable form; and six marijuana plants, with no more than three mature and flowering plants producing usable marijuana at any one time who is known to the patient not to be either in lawful possession of a registry identification card or eligible for such card. Any patient found by a preponderance of the evidence to have knowingly and willfully violated the provisions of this chapter shall be precluded from obtaining or using a registry identification card for the medical use of marijuana for a period of one year. A governmental, private, or other health insurance provider is not liable for any claim for reimbursement for expenses associated with the medical use of marijuana. Nothing in the law requires the accommodation of any medical use of marijuana in any place of employment; in any correctional facility, medical facility, or facility monitored by the department or the Department of Administration; on or within 500 feet of school grounds.