Section 17.37.070 - DefinitionsIn this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise,
(1) "alternate caregiver" means a person who is listed as an alternate caregiver under AS 17.37.010;(2) "bona fide physician-patient relationship" means that the physician obtained a patient history, performed an in-person physical examination of the patient, and documented written findings, diagnoses, recommendations, and prescriptions in written patient medical records maintained by the physician;(3) "correctional facility" has the meaning given in AS 33.30.901;(4) "debilitating medical condition" means (A) cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or treatment for any of these conditions;(B) any chronic or debilitating disease or treatment for such diseases, which produces, for a specific patient, one or more of the following, and for which, in the professional opinion of the patient's physician, such condition or conditions reasonably may be alleviated by the medical use of marijuana: cachexia; severe pain; severe nausea; seizures, including those that are characteristic of epilepsy; or persistent muscle spasms, including those that are characteristic of multiple sclerosis; or(C) any other medical condition, or treatment for such condition, approved by the department, under regulations adopted under AS 17.37.060 or approval of a petition submitted under AS 17.37.060;(5) "department" means the Department of Health;(6) "facility monitored by the department or the Department of Administration" means an institution, building, office, or home operated by the department or the Department of Administration, funded by the department or the Department of Administration, under contract with the department or the Department of Administration, inspected by the department or the Department of Administration, designated by the department or the Department of Administration, or licensed by the department or the Department of Administration, for the care of (A) juveniles; for the purposes of this subparagraph, "institution" includes a foster home and a group home, and a juvenile detention facility and a juvenile treatment facility, as those terms are defined in AS 47.12.990;(B) the elderly; for the purposes of this subparagraph, "institution" includes (i) an assisted living home as defined in AS 47.33.990; and(ii) the Alaska Pioneers' Home or the Alaska Veterans' Home, operated under AS 47.55;(C) the mentally ill; for the purposes of this subparagraph, "institution" includes a designated treatment facility and an evaluation facility, as those terms are defined in AS 47.30.915;(7) "medical facility" means an institution, building, office, or home providing medical services, and includes a hospital, clinic, physician's office, or health facility as defined in AS 47.07.900, and a facility providing hospice care or rehabilitative services, as those terms are defined in AS 47.07.900;(8) "medical use" means the acquisition, possession, cultivation, use or transportation of marijuana or paraphernalia related to the administration of marijuana to alleviate a debilitating medical condition under the provisions of this chapter and AS 11.71.090;(9) "patient" means a person who has a debilitating medical condition;(10) "physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state or an officer in the regular medical service of the armed forces of the United States or the United States Public Health Service while in the discharge of their official duties, or while volunteering services without pay or other remuneration to a hospital, clinic, medical office, or other medical facility in this state;(11) "primary caregiver " means a person listed as a primary caregiver under AS 17.37.010 and in physical possession of a caregiver registry identification card; "primary caregiver" also includes an alternate caregiver when the alternate caregiver is in physical possession of the caregiver registry identification card;(12) "usable form" and "usable marijuana" means the seeds, leaves, buds, and flowers of the plant (genus) cannabis, but does not include the stalks or roots.Amended by AK 2022 Executive Order 121,sec. 134, eff. 7/1/2022.Amended by SLA 2021, ch. 16,sec. 11, eff. 7/1/2021.