MARIJUANA CONCERNS IN KETCHIKAN Warnings to cruise passengers

Posted on 05/13/2016 | About Ketchikan, Alaska

In December the council members of Ketchikan voted 5-2 in favour of prohibiting retail pot shops. Last week the council voted 1-5 to reject protesting a permit though one member opposed to the pot store raised concerns about the effect of the sale of marijuana on visiting cruise passengers.

Dick Coose voiced his apprehensions about Ketchikan becoming a ‘pot port’ and the repercussions of passengers carrying the drug back on to cruise ships which maintain a zero tolerance policy for possession. 

Eric Reimer is one of the partners for the proposed pot shop. He said that his business will provide robust warnings about taking pot on board the ship through signage and verbal reminders. 

He doesn’t believe that a pot store is, “putting an undue temptation in front of passengers,” pointing out that marijuana is legal in other ports including Seattle and Anchorage. 

The intended new facility will have a lounge where customers can imbibe in single amounts of pot and a separate store which they figure will be more popular with locals, with medicinal and recreational products on offer. 

Ketchikan honours state buffer zones, which prevents a marijuana store to be within a minimum distance from a school, church or youth facility. The proposed pot store would be beyond that area, making that appealing for the members who voted not to protest the permit. 

A local doctor; Karl Richie owns the building where the store would be located. He stated that pot carries fewer risks than alcohol, methamphetamine and tobacco. 

Reimer said that the intent was to close the facility around 8pm to ensure that neighbours need not worry about late night noise. He advised that they would adhere to strict guidelines with regard to the filtration system to reduce the smell of pot outside the store. 

The business proposal still needs to go in front of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Planning Commission for a Conditional Use Permit. Those permits need to be renewed annually, so the city could protest at a future date. 

The business also will need a state license and, eventually, a source of legal pot to sell.