Cannabis
in Alaska

Under Alaska Stat. 17.38, adults 21 and older may possess up to one ounce of cannabis and may give up to one ounce, or up to six plants, to another adult at no charge. Retail stores may sell each customer up to one ounce of usable cannabis, seven grams of concentrate, or 5,600 milligrams of THC in combined products per day. Alaska also has a long-standing constitutional privacy protection for small amounts kept at home, dating to the 1975 Ravin v. State decision, and some sources describe up to four ounces at home as protected. Medical patients are held to the same one-ounce limit as other adults. Hashish and hash oil carry separate penalties.

Alaska allows adults 21 and older to possess, buy, grow and use cannabis, and retail stores may sell only to customers 21 or older. People under 21 may not possess, sell or give away cannabis and can face criminal penalties, including possible jail time, for simple possession. Supplying cannabis to someone under 19 when the supplier is at least three years older is a class B felony. The medical registry accepts patients 18 and older. Patients under 18 can register, but a parent or guardian must apply and act as primary caregiver. Caregivers must be at least 21, permanent Alaska residents, and free of drug-related felony convictions.

Adults 21 and older in Alaska may grow up to six plants, with no more than three mature and flowering at a time. A single dwelling may hold up to 12 plants, with no more than six mature, regardless of how many adults live there. Plants must be secured against unauthorized access and must not be visible to the public without optical aids, and landlords and property owners can prohibit cultivation on their property. Adults may give away up to six immature plants to another adult. Alaska courts have also treated growing fewer than 25 plants in a private residence as protected under the state constitution's privacy guarantee. Medical patients follow the same general plant limits.

Commercial cannabis in Alaska is regulated by the Marijuana Control Board, supported by the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, which licenses cultivators, manufacturers, testing labs and retail stores under Alaska Stat. 17.38 and the regulations in 3 AAC 306. The state uses the Metrc system to track cannabis from plant to sale. The medical side runs separately under Alaska Stat. 17.37. The Alaska Department of Health maintains the confidential Medical Marijuana Registry, handled by its Health Analytics and Vital Records section, which many guides still call the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Local governments retain power to adopt stricter rules than state law, so cities and boroughs such as Fairbanks and North Pole can differ.

Alaska does not tax cannabis at the register the way most legal states do. Instead, it levies a weight-based excise tax at the cultivation level: $50 per ounce of bud or flower and $15 per ounce of stems and leaves, and that cost is built into shelf prices. There is no statewide sales tax, although some cities and boroughs add their own local sales tax. Sources disagree about medical patients. The Marijuana Policy Project says Alaska has no separate tax treatment for them, while some card services say patients are exempt from local sales taxes, so patients should ask their local store. Legislation has been proposed to cut the per-ounce tax to $12 and add a 6 percent retail tax.

Alaska was the first state to license on-site cannabis consumption at retail stores. A licensed retailer can apply for a special endorsement allowing customers to consume on the premises, provided it meets security and ventilation requirements. Outside those endorsed locations, public use is illegal throughout the state, including in parks, schools and on sidewalks, and carries a fine of up to $100. Private property is the main lawful place to consume, subject to the owner's rules, since landlords and property owners can ban use. Cannabis is also illegal on federal land such as national parks and national forests, which cover large parts of Alaska, and driving under its influence counts as DUI.

Alaska's Department of Health keeps a confidential registry of residents approved for medical use and issues each member a wallet-sized card. The process starts with a physician who diagnoses a qualifying condition and determines that cannabis could help. The patient then completes the registry application and sends it, with the physician's certification, a copy of an Alaska ID and the $25 state fee, to the registry. Card services report that applications are submitted by mail. Applicants who are denied must wait at least six months before applying again. Because Alaska licenses only adult-use retail stores rather than separate medical dispensaries, registered patients buy from the same stores as everyone else.

According to the Alaska Department of Health, qualifying conditions for the medical registry include cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, and any chronic or debilitating disease or treatment that produces cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, or persistent muscle spasms, including those caused by multiple sclerosis. A physician must make the diagnosis and determine that the patient might benefit from medical use. The research for this page does not describe a petition process for adding new conditions, so the law appears silent on how the list might be expanded. Because adults 21 and older can buy cannabis legally anyway, the condition list matters most to patients aged 18 to 20 and to minors.

Only Alaska residents can join the medical registry, and applicants must be at least 18 unless a parent or guardian applies for them and serves as primary caregiver. The application needs a physician's certification of a qualifying condition, a copy of a valid Alaska driver's license or state ID, and the $25 fee. Licensed physicians and licensed osteopaths may certify. At least one certification service says medical records are not required for its evaluation, but the physician must still make a diagnosis. Caregivers must be at least 21, permanent Alaska residents, registered with the state, and free of felony convictions related to controlled substances. A denied applicant must wait six months before reapplying.

Alaska medical registry cards are valid for one year from issue, and patients must renew to stay on the registry. Renewal means going back to a physician to confirm that the qualifying condition continues and that cannabis is still appropriate, then submitting the renewal application and a $20 state fee to the registry. Several certification services report that renewal visits can be done by telemedicine even where the first visit was in person. The research for this page does not state how far ahead of expiration a renewal can be filed or whether there is a grace period, so patients should allow for mail processing time before their card lapses.

Neither Alaska Stat. 17.37 nor the Department of Health's registry guidance in the research for this page addresses whether a physician may certify a patient by video, so the official position is unclear. The commercial sources conflict. Several card services say Alaska accepts telemedicine consultations for certifications, including online and video visits, while one physician group says first evaluations must be in person and only renewals can be done remotely. Given that disagreement, patients planning a remote first visit should confirm with the physician that the resulting certification will be accepted by the registry, since a rejected application costs time and fees and denial triggers a six-month wait to reapply.

Alaska does not recognize medical cannabis cards from other states, and only Alaska residents can join its registry. For most visitors this makes little practical difference: anyone 21 or older can buy at a licensed retail store with valid ID, subject to the one-ounce daily purchase limit. Visitors aged 18 to 20 with an out-of-state card, however, have no lawful access. Alaska cardholders may be recognized in some other states, with California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington among those cited by card services, though each state sets its own rules. Cannabis cannot legally be taken out of Alaska, and flying with it or carrying it onto federal land breaks federal law.