FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Legalized by voters in 2014, Alaska’s recreational cannabis industry has flourished since the first operations began. But in recent years, the industry’s boom has fizzled out.
25 years later, the voters re-criminalized cannabis. Shortly thereafter, in 1998, the voters of Alaska decriminalized medical cannabis. This allowed the state to set up a medical marijuana I.D. system and organize a legal process for doctors to prescribe medical marijuana. Again in the early 2000′s, legal challenges came up and the debate continued until 2014.Within the first few years of operations, Alaska’s cannabis industry employed over 1,500 people and paid millions of dollars in taxes.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit Alaska, the state’s cannabis industry faced hardship similar to other industries. While the industry saw a short period of decline, economists are unsure what the root cause was. Wiebold explained there was more disposable income overall, but income was less predictable, tourism had dropped and there were less out of state workers doing seasonal work. She also noted however that tourism likely wasn’t a big factor.