LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Pot Merchant Relates First Year Challenges
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The first year of operation for Sitka’s first retail marijuana store has been a steep learning curve, and full of opportunities to problem solve, the Chamber of Commerce was told Wednesday.
But Weed Dudes owner Michelle Cleaver said so far it’s been worth it, and the community will reap the benefits as well.
“We have some pretty darn good numbers in the first year,” she said.
Michelle Cleaver of Weed Dudes, speaks at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce noon luncheon Wednesday at the Westmark Hotel. (Sentinel Photo)
The talk was a mix of history, legal challenges, economics and anecdotes, which entertained an audience of about two dozen. She also had a full display of paraphernalia, and talked about the “then-and-now” differences between the time she started using marijuana, at age 15, and today.
Sitka currently has three retail marijuana shops, and two cultivation businesses; and licenses are pending for six more cultivation businesses, and two manufacturing businesses, Cleaver said today.
“Our town is booming ... and involved in the whole thing,” Cleaver told the Chamber.
She said 60 people are employed in the marijuana business in Sitka, and about 100 have marijuana handlers permits.
“It’s good for us, it creates jobs,” she said.
It also brings in tax revenue, she said, to the tune of $5.5 million in 2017 from the state tax of $50 per ounce that is sold.
She estimated Sitka revenue from the 5 and 6 percent sales tax at $116,000, on top of Sitka’s share of state licensing fees, which last year came to about $5,200.
Alaska voters approved legalization of recreational marijuana with a 53 percent majority. In Sitka about 70 percent of voters were in favor.
Cleaver opened her shop on New Year’s Eve in 2016, after obtaining her license, winning approval from the Planning Commission, and jumping through a number of regulatory hoops.
Supply was a problem in the beginning, because the U.S. Department of Justice still categorizes pot as a Schedule I substance, along with heroin and LSD. This limits options for shipping cannibis for sale or for testing, Cleaver said.
“Last year I was out of marijuana more than I was in marijuana,” she said.
Her supply problem was eased when cultivation businesses started up in Sitka, but growers were left with the problem of sending out product for testing, as required under state law. There are federal restrictions against transporting marijuana, and Alaska’s only two testing facilities are in Anchorage. Solving that problem took some persuasive arguments to Alaska Airlines officials in Anchorage, she said.
She believes she may have softened their hearts with a story about her grandfather Chet McLean’s days flying the first PBY plane to Alaska in 1936. He flew for the Pan Alaska Transport Company, which was bought by Alaska Coastal and eventually absorbed by Alaska Airlines.
“We’re Alaska and we have to think outside the box,” she told the airlines officials.
Cleaver said they said: “We can’t say yes, but if you can figure out a way (through TSA) onto our airplanes without us knowing ...” The solution was to take it as carry-on baggage.
Another hurdle in the Alaska pot business is banking, since pot businesses can’t deposit their money in banks because of federal banking laws. But she said that problem may be on its way to being solved, with the help of credit unions.
“It’s one of the most unfair things” she’s had to deal with, Cleaver said. She added she’s not looking forward to tax season. The funds are technically “illegal,” she said, “but I still pay taxes.”
Cleaver said she works closely with police, who know where her store is, and contact her when they see a possible problem. She said the high quality video surveillance at her store actually helped solve a robbery at a nearby convenience store.
She said she knows police officers “would rather deal with a stoner than a drunk dude,” since marijuana users generally are not violent. “They would rather go home and make love to a couch,” she said, to the amusement of the audience.
Another question still to be answered is whether there will be a local excise tax on marijuana, as there is on tobacco products.
She talked a little about marijuana products and paraphernalia that are legally available in Alaska, and had a demonstration table that drew Chamber members in for a closer look after her talk.
In answering questions at the end, Cleaver said she’s still seeing illegal black market competition in Sitka. Those dealers don’t have the overhead costs of the legal businesses, and Cleaver said she finds she needs to set her prices at black market levels, or lose business. But that competition seems to be on the way out, with some of the black market operators becoming legal businesses, she said.
“It’s gotten smaller,” she said. “We’re losing more and more of the black market.”
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.