An application for another marijuana grow facility is scheduled to come before the Juneau Planning Commission on Tuesday evening. If approved, it would add to the growing number of licensed cultivators in the capital city.
Green Elephant LLC proposes its second marijuana grow operation in a 6,000-square-foot vacant warehouse on Airport Boulevard. The product would be sold at the owners’ licensed retailer planned to open south of downtown.
Co-owners Richard Dudas and Jennifer Canfield already have a state-issued cultivation license to grow marijuana on Mill Street, where they have applied to open a shop. Canfield is a former employee of KTOO.
Juneau Assemblyman Loren Jones, who also sits on the state Marijuana Control Board, said local cultivation is essential for licensed retailers. That’s because federal law has always made shipping pot hard. And with the Trump administration’s tough talk against marijuana, he says, it’s even more so.
“Transporting marijuana is difficult and I think the new (U.S.) Attorney General has made it more difficult in that I think that TSA and the (U.S.) Postal Service and those places will be a little more cautious about shipping large quantities,” Jones said.
Regulatory hurdles remain. If the planning commission approves the growing operation on Airport Boulevard, there still remain permits for its retail operation. Green Elephant has also applied for cafe-style onsite consumption — but that issue still needs to be resolved by the state’s Marijuana Control Board.
