Alaska weighs dropping the required training course for marijuana handlers

Alaska marijuana workers would no longer have to take a state-approved training course to get a handler permit, under a draft rule the Marijuana Control Board is weighing this week. The course has been required since 2019.

Instead of passing a class and a written test, applicants would just submit criminal background checks to the state's Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office. Permits would still last three years. The current course — which covers marijuana law, spotting impairment, checking IDs and how to head off unlawful sales — costs up to $500; the permit application fee is $50. Dropping it would save workers and businesses that money, and could cut into the business of the approved providers who teach it. The draft doesn't quote any industry operators or course providers.

The change would also narrow who needs a permit at all, dropping cultivation, manufacturing and testing workers from the requirement and leaving mainly those who sell or transport product or check IDs. A criminal record could still bar a permit — a recent felony, active felony probation, certain drug misdemeanors — though a new provision would let the board issue one anyway at its discretion.

The board directed staff to strip the course requirement in February, as part of a broader reform effort. The draft is still rough in spots — its renewal language is unfinished, marked "board to consider wording here" — and hasn't been adopted. The office is taking written comment at [email protected].