Alaska Marijuana Retail Store 500-Foot School Buffer Statewide

Every adult-use marijuana retail store in Alaska needs a Marijuana Control Board license issued through the Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office (AMCO). Under 3 AAC 306.010, the board will not issue a license or approve a transfer when the licensed premises sit within 500 feet of a school ground, a recreation or youth center, a building in which religious services are regularly conducted, or a correctional facility. The distance is measured by the shortest pedestrian route from the store's public entrance to the sensitive use. Stores in place before the school or center arrived are grandfathered, and local governments may impose their own additional limits or ban establishments outright.

Operating a retail marijuana store without a Marijuana Control Board license, or inside the 500-foot buffer, brings license denial, refusal to renew, suspension, or revocation plus board-set fines; unlicensed commercial sale is a state felony.