Soldotna Police Chief Peter Mlynarik has been appointed to the state’s Marijuana Control Board as the public safety officer.
Mlynarik said the board has until November 24 to draft the state’s regulations for marijuana.
Mlynarik: “For marijuana establishments and marijuana in general, some of those will affect marijuana use. Then once those regulations are established we’ll be looking at new licenses and then eventually there’ll be license renewals and that sort of thing.”
The Alaska Department of Revenue estimates that tax revenues will generate between $5.1 million to $9.2 million in the first year of commercial sales.
Mlynarik has been the Chief of Police in Soldotna since 2012 and spent over 20 years with the Alaska State Troopers before that.
Mlynarik: “One of my key things is for the youth, that young people don’t get a hold of it, so that it’s not divergent there. And then obviously anything to do with safe driving and public safety as it relates to people using it so those are my main concerns.”
Governor Bill Walker’s announcement stated Mlynarik’s background “in Alaska law enforcement makes him exceptionally qualified to understand the public safety issues associated with this developing industry.”
The other four members were Loren Jones of Juneau in the public health seat; Mark Springer from Bethel appointed as the rural seat; and Bruce Schulte of Anchorage and Brandon Emmett of Fairbanks as the two industry seats.