As the Massachusetts’ recreational marijuana industry continues to take root, people looking to get into the pot business —and state lawmakers looking to regulate it—often turn to states like Colorado and Oregon for guidance. But there's a lot to learn a little farther north, in Alaska.
Bryant Thorp greeted customers from behind the counter of his business, Arctic Herbery, the first legalized recreational pot shop in Anchorage.
“Just the edibles today," he said. "We’ll have flower again late Friday.” It was a message that disappointed some customers, like an older man named Frank who came in looking for "some smoke."
They had pot brownies, cookies and other edible products that are supplied by another company. But smoking the dried flower is still by far the most popular way to consume cannabis. Since opening in December, Thorp has grown his own product in a warehouse connected to his small storefront, but he can’t keep up with the demand.
“My first 10 pounds lasted five days," he said. "I had two and a half pounds that lasted two days. Then I had a pound and a half the other day, lasted one day. It just doesn’t last long.”
Recreational pot stores started opening in Alaska last October, and there are about two dozen operating now. And those businesses are having a hard time growing enough to meet the demand. Thorp said that’s because of the state’s rules.
“Here in Alaska they said no to outside money and outside interest of any kind," he said. "It has to be Alaskan owned and operated, financed by Alaskan owned and operated citizens.”
Thorp said that’s in keeping with the spirit of Alaskan pride. And it’s kept millions of out-of-state dollars and outsider marijuana experts from flooding into Alaska.
Given that they can't meet the demand, you might think the residency requirement is both a blessing and a curse. But Thorp said no.
“It’s not a curse to me," he said. "That keeps Marlboro joints out of our economy. They could take all us little guys down if they really wanted to get into the business.”
Massachusetts has taken a different approach. In the Commonwealth, out-of-state experience is seen as a good thing.
Take Norton Arbelaez, for example. He used to grow marijuana out West. Now he’s running a dispensary in Brookline.
“This was the Brookline Savings Bank, and it operated as such for the better part of a century," Arbelaez said.
This former bank building is home to New England Treatment Access. And this huge space—with marble finishes and a two-story domed ceiling—couldn’t be any more different from that crowded Anchorage storefront.
“We see on average about 600 patients a day at this location,” he said. Customers still line up to go to the teller here. It’s just now, there’s marijuana coming out of the bank vault, instead of cash.
“It’s not just the flower that’s available," Arbelaez said. "We have creams, we have pills, we have concentrates. We even have suppositories that we make.”
Like Arctic Herbery in Anchorage, this dispensary grows its own product.
“The regulations in Massachusetts allow for out-of-state investment," he said. "They allow for out of state expertise, and in fact they mandate the sort-of experienced operator. And that’s what’s so crucial is that these organizations and the Commonwealth have really recruited the best and the brightest from across the country, people that have operated responsibly in over a period of years in a heavily regulated environment.”
Kris Krane, the president of the marijuana consulting firm 4Front Ventures said while out-of-state investment has played an important role in developing the industry in Massachusetts, most of the new businesses are owned by people from here.
“Or at the very least, they’re Massachusetts residents that have partnered with groups from out of state that are bringing either capital to the project, or they’re bringing expertise,” he said.
Krane said the residency requirement in Alaska isn’t the only key difference from the budding Massachusetts industry. “The adult use program here is not going to be starting from scratch like it is in Alaska, and like it has in some other states, but you’re going to be building on an existing infrastructure from the medical market.”
Even with a more established industry, though, when the recreational program does finally launch—in 2018, at the earliest—he says, like in Alaska, there may not be enough to go around.
“It is quite possible that in the earlier days of the program you will see, if not stores running out of supply, that you will likely see purchase limits, because it’s going to take some time after the program gets up and running for more grows to open, for production to really scale to a fairly large volume,” he said.
Already, some medical dispensaries in the state are limiting how much customers can buy beyond the legal limits to make sure there’s enough for everybody. But at New England Treatment Access in Brookline, that limit is a half-ounce a day—enough for about 15 joints. So, you should be fine.
