About the Data: Local governments cannot opt out of allowing adult-use cannabis businesses, but municipalities do have “local control” to pass ordinances restricting certain license types or prohibiting certain products or methods.
Nine of 165 incorporated municipalities (5%) adopted ordinances to prohibit adult-use retail cannabis sales.
Fifteen percent (24* out of 165) of incorporated municipalities adopted ordinances to prohibit or restrict cannabis businesses of some type. (*25 are on the state’s list, but the city of Nome has no restrictions listed as adopted.) Other restrictions, in addition to prohibiting retail sales, put in place by municipalities include: bans on cultivation, manufacturing and/or testing facilities; “restrictions on the time, place, manner or number” of cannabis businesses; and bans on non-flower cannabis products.
Data Source: State of Alaska’s Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office
About Alaska’s Adult-Use Cannabis Program: Alaska became the fourth state to legalize adult-use cannabis when voters passed ballot Measure 2 in the November 2014 election. Adult-use sales launched Oct. 29, 2016.
