Alaskan director eyes Pueblo County’s marijuana facilities

Pueblo County’s marijuana industry is catching the attention of government officials in Alaska.

Christine Nelson, a community planning director for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska toured a marijuana grow in Pueblo County Friday to learn about the regulations the county has enacted following the passage of Amendment 64.

Nelson began her tour at Yetti Farms in western Pueblo County, accompanied by Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz and his staff members.

Shawn Honaker, owner of Yetti Farms, walked Nelson through his 1,500 foot greenhouse in western Pueblo County. Honaker explained that he begins by growing the plants in the greenhouse and then moves them to an outside field.

His fields caught Nelson’s attention. “Our community is very interested in outdoor grows right now,” she told KRDO NewsChannel 13. “At this time of year, we have almost 24 hours of daylight. There are certain cannabis strains that do very well that way.”

Alaskans voted last year to legalize recreational marijuana use. Nelson said the state is working on regulations. She spent the week visiting several communities in Colorado, including Denver, Breckenridge, Boulder, Aurora and Pueblo County.

She said Pueblo County’s population most closely resembles that of the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

“We’re a very large geographical area and we have about 100,000 in population and we are limited in resources both at the state level as well as the local level,” Nelson said.

“It’s very satisfying for Pueblo County for people to come here and ask us questions,” Ortiz said. “It means that we’ve done our job in building the correct regulations for our community.”

Nelson said licenses for marijuana manufacturing facilities, test labs, grows and retail stores are expected to be issued beginning next May.