Alaska’s U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan says he’s investigating what can be done in order to ease the federal regulatory pressure on states who have legalized marijuana.
U.S. Sen. Sullivan: “My staff and I have had a couple of meetings with Governor Walker’s administration officials to try to work through the complexities of a state system where marijuana has been legalized by the vote of the people, so even though I didn’t vote for that, I recognize that it’s a vote of the Alaskan people so I very much respect that. And then the federal system that hasn’t gotten there, whether it’s banking, whether it’s criminal laws and how you mesh the two.”
He says he has dug into the federal banking laws that could make commercial marijuana business more complicated for Alaskans in the coming year.
U.S. Sen. Sullivan: “It’s not 100% clear where we would have to change federal laws to enable states that have chosen to do what Alaska did, like Oregon, like Colorado, to move forward. So we are working with the federal agencies, we are working with the state of Alaska, we’re working with some of the other states, I’m working with some of the other senators on first understanding what the exact issues are and how to address them. It is complex, like I said.”
The Alaska Marijuana Control Board is preparing to accept license applications for cannabusinesses in February 2016.