The Alaska Marijuana Regulators scarcely rejected an interesting proposal that would have made Alaska the first state to allow marijuana consumers to consume the grass the moment they buy it from any retail store selling it.

In a close, nail-biting 3-2 vote, the Marijuana Control Board of Alaska decided not to allow this proposal. This further agitated the retailers, and they continued to demand minimal usage of marijuana at their stores.

The new rule that did not come through would have allowed customers to buy marijuana from authorized retailers and consume it in a separate part of the store made exclusively for it.

Mark Springer is the Board Member – the one who cast the last vote and rejected the proposal. He says that it’s better to take things slow; with Trump’s administration, it is quite uncertain how they will perceive any updates related to marijuana. They don’t want to wave a red flag in front of their federal law.

The Board Member, Loren Jones who was in favor of the proposal, is concerned how the community will react to their demand not being fulfilled. They asked for allocating smoke-free workplaces, and the proposal was rejected. The board has been thinking about this idea since 2015, but ultimately it got rejected.

The onsite idea of consuming cannabis would allow people to use it responsibly, and be among different people when they consume it.

The main aim of this proposal was to encourage tourists to have legal and safe places to consume marijuana, especially the cruise ship passengers. Since consumption of marijuana in public is not allowed, the passengers can’t smoke on the ships too. This has put off many ardent marijuana consumers in the neighborhood.

More than 2 million tourists visit Alaska every year among which more than half of them are from cruise ships. The primary driving economy of Alaska is for tourists only, and it is Alaska’s moral obligation to keep their visitors happy.

The board members also told that the on-site consumption of marijuana wasn’t properly planned and was entirely improper.

The board had an option to re-advertise this proposal in next 30 days or don’t advance it all; the board went with the latter one. Would there be any changes in these laws any time soon? We’ll have to wait to find that out!