Landlord ban authority, possession and home-grow limits, medical patient housing rules, and federal Section 8 restrictions in Alaska.
Recreational cannabis has been legal for adults 21 and older in Alaska since February 24, 2015, when 2014 Ballot Measure 2 took effect and created AS 17.38. That legalization changed what tenants may lawfully do statewide, but it did nothing to strip landlords of control over their own buildings. The same chapter that legalized personal use also wrote property owners a clean carve-out, so an Alaska landlord who wants a smoke-free, cultivation-free rental still holds every card — as long as the lease says so.
The practical questions are where cannabis use is legal, how far a landlord's authority reaches, and what happens when a federally-subsidized tenant is involved. Alaska answers the first two directly in statute; the third is governed by federal law that overrides state legalization entirely.
Alaska is classified as Adult-Use Recreational Legal (effective 2014). The governing statute is Alaska Stat. § 17.38 (Measure 2, 2014).
AS § 17.38.040: a person who owns or controls property may prohibit consumption or possession on the property. Landlord ban explicit in statute.
Alaska is a fully recreational state. Under AS 17.38.020, an adult 21 or older may possess, use, display, purchase, or transport one ounce or less of marijuana, and may possess up to 4 ounces within the confines of a residence. Home cultivation is allowed: an adult may grow no more than six plants, with three or fewer mature and flowering, and keep the marijuana those plants produce on the premises where they were grown.
Two limits matter to landlords. First, AS 17.38.040 bans consuming marijuana in public, which pushes lawful use into private residences — including rentals. Second, the cultivation right is not unconditional: growing is lawful only on property the cultivator lawfully possesses, or with the consent of the person in lawful possession of the property. That consent hook is what lets a landlord shut down growing without running afoul of state law.
The decisive provision is AS 17.38.120(d). It states that nothing in the marijuana chapter prohibits a person or entity who occupies, owns, or controls private property from prohibiting or regulating the possession, consumption, use, display, transfer, distribution, sale, transportation, or growing of marijuana on or in that property.
Read plainly, this hands landlords the full menu. You may ban smoking, ban cultivation, ban possession, or permit some and prohibit others. Legalization removed the criminal penalty for the tenant; it did not create any tenant right to consume or grow inside a unit over the owner's objection. An Alaska landlord's power here is broader than in a medical-only state because it is not narrowed by any statutory duty to accommodate use.
The carve-out only helps if your lease actually invokes it. A silent lease is the weak spot — because use in a private residence is lawful, a tenant who was never told otherwise has a reasonable argument that ordinary lawful conduct is permitted. Put the prohibition in writing.
Effective clauses separate the acts: a no-smoking-of-any-substance provision (which also covers tobacco and vaping and is easier to enforce on odor and damage grounds), and a distinct no-cultivation provision that expressly withholds the consent required under AS 17.38.020. Because the state statute conditions growing on the property-holder's consent, a clause stating that the landlord does not consent to any marijuana cultivation makes tenant growing not just a lease breach but conduct outside the statutory protection.
Under the Alaska Uniform Residential Landlord & Tenant Act (AS 34.03), a landlord's rules are enforceable when they are reasonable, clearly defined, and applied equally to all tenants, and serve to promote tenant convenience, safety, health, or welfare, preserve the property from abuse, or fairly distribute services. A blanket no-smoking / no-grow policy applied to every unit meets that standard; a rule selectively enforced against one tenant is the kind that gets challenged.
State legalization stops at the federal door. Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, and HUD rules ride on top of that. Public Housing Authorities are required to deny admission to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) applicants who use marijuana, and a PHA may terminate an existing subsidized tenant for use — even though that same tenant is acting lawfully under AS 17.38.
For a private Alaska landlord renting to a voucher holder, this creates real exposure. Cannabis use or cultivation that is legal under state law can still jeopardize the tenant's subsidy and, in project-based or HUD-financed settings, put the property's compliance at risk. If you accept vouchers or operate federally-assisted units, a no-marijuana clause is not optional caution — it aligns the lease with the federal rules the subsidy already imposes.
Alaska gives landlords near-total control over cannabis inside their rentals, but that control is only as strong as the lease that exercises it. Ban smoking and cultivation explicitly, withhold consent to grow in writing, and apply the policy uniformly across every unit. Do that, and AS 17.38.120(d) backs you completely.
The one place to tighten further is subsidized housing: because federal law overrides state legalization, any unit touched by Section 8 or public-housing funding should carry a clear no-marijuana provision to protect both the tenant's subsidy and your compliance standing. Where a tenant already lives in the unit, enforce through the standard AS 34.03 notice-and-cure process rather than self-help.
Medical cannabis patients in Alaska may be treated identically to recreational users by landlords. There is no state-law anti-discrimination requirement; the federal Schedule I framework controls. Some local jurisdictions may have ordinances providing limited protection, check the city or county where the rental unit is located.
The practical impact: a tenant holding a Housing Choice Voucher who tests positive for cannabis or self-discloses use during recertification can lose their voucher in Alaska, regardless of any state cannabis legalization or medical card status. This is the single most common point of confusion for tenants in adult-use states.
City-level landlord risk profiles often track cannabis-related lease enforcement. View the eviction-risk and tenant-law profile for the largest Alaska rental markets:
This page summarizes Alaska statute (AS 17.38, the Regulation of Marijuana, and AS 34.03, the Uniform Residential Landlord & Tenant Act) together with the federal treatment of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act and HUD's rules for federally-assisted housing. Statutes change and individual leases vary; before acting on a specific dispute, confirm the current text of the cited sections and consult an Alaska attorney. This is general information for landlords, not legal advice.
Yes. AS 17.38.120(d) expressly lets anyone who owns or controls private property prohibit the possession, use, smoking, or growing of marijuana on that property. Legalization under AS 17.38 removed criminal penalties for adults 21 and older but created no tenant right to use or cultivate over a landlord's objection. The ban must be stated in the lease to be enforceable.
Only with the landlord's consent. AS 17.38.020 allows an adult to grow up to six plants (three or fewer mature), but cultivation is lawful only on property the grower lawfully possesses or where the person in lawful possession consents. A landlord who withholds consent in the lease puts tenant cultivation outside both the lease and the statute's protection.
Under AS 17.38.020, an adult 21 or older may possess one ounce or less in general and up to 4 ounces within the confines of a residence. These are the tenant's state-law rights; they do not override a lease clause prohibiting possession in a specific rental unit.
A well-drafted no-smoking clause that prohibits smoking of any substance covers marijuana and is the cleanest approach, since it also reaches tobacco and vaping and is enforced on odor and damage grounds. Pair it with a separate no-cultivation clause, because growing and smoking are distinct acts under AS 17.38.
Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug federally, so HUD requires Public Housing Authorities to deny admission to Section 8 and public-housing applicants who use it, and a PHA may terminate an existing tenant for use. This applies even though the tenant's conduct is legal under Alaska's AS 17.38. Landlords renting federally-assisted units should include a no-marijuana clause.
Not safely. Under the Alaska Uniform Residential Landlord & Tenant Act (AS 34.03), rules are enforceable when reasonable, clearly defined, and applied equally to all tenants. A cannabis policy enforced selectively against one tenant is vulnerable to challenge; a uniform, building-wide policy is not.
Federal authority: 21 U.S.C. § 812; HUD PIH 2014-21. State authority: Alaska Stat. § 17.38 (Measure 2, 2014). Last updated August 17, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Cannabis law is rapidly evolving and federal/state conflict creates significant compliance risk; consult a licensed Alaska attorney before making a lease, screening, or eviction decision involving cannabis.
