The Alaska Beacon Reports
The executive director of the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office has resigned to become chief judge of the Office of Administrative Hearings, which handles most initial challenges to state administrative actions.
Joan Wilson, the former director, had served as the state’s top alcohol and marijuana official since being appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in April 2022. Her resignation, which took effect in September, was not announced by the state.
The acting director of AMCO, as the alcohol and marijuana office is colloquially known, is listed online as Lizzie Kubitz, a special assistant in the Department of Commerce.
No permanent director has yet been named.
AMCO holds a unique, quasi-judicial role in state government, regulating alcohol and marijuana growers, manufacturers and sellers. It has a small, police-like investigative division, and its director, though appointed by the governor, may be removed only by a joint vote of the state’s alcohol and marijuana boards.
Alaska’s top marijuana, alcohol official resigns to become administrative law judge