JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Cynthia Franklin, who helped guide Alaska’s work in setting up the state’s legal marijuana industry, is resigning as director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.
In an email to state commerce commissioner Chris Hladick, dated Wednesday, Franklin said she has accepted a position as an assistant attorney general in the state consumer protection division. Her resignation is effective Jan. 6.
Hladick expects a new director to be appointed by early January. The governor makes the appointment. The Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office falls under the commerce department.
Franklin was named director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in 2014, two months before Alaska voters legalized recreational use of marijuana, and later also became director of the Marijuana Control Board, created in 2015.
The two boards share staff that, at times, has had to shoulder heavy workloads.
Hladick, in a release Thursday, said Franklin’s leadership leaves the boards and their staff well positioned to continue high-quality work.
Brandon Emmett, an industry member serving on the Marijuana Control Board, said things should be fine if Franklin’s successor “has a knack for production,” can quickly integrate into the office and can manage a big workload. The board has a framework in place for the industry and staff members do a good job of dealing with licensees, he said.
“But if we don’t get someone in that position in a timely manner or if that person is not up to task or does not work with staff well, it could be a real issue for the office, both on the marijuana and alcohol side,” he said in a phone interview Thursday.
It also is important for whoever holds that position to be objective and willing to carry out the board’s wishes, he said.
Emmett said he learned about Franklin’s decision by email Wednesday, after she had given board members an office tour earlier in the day.
In her email to Hladick, Franklin offered kind words to department staff.
“The commissioner’s office itself deserves credit as well, not only for assembling an excellent team, but for backing me up so many times when strong winds threatened to blow us off course,” Franklin wrote in the email.
She did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press.
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