he special section in this issue is Healthcare, and the area of focus that informs the rest of the magazine is corporate citizenship. I like the combination as it ultimately resulted in an overall community wellness issue. In fact, our lineup of articles are all connected to community or individual health in obvious ways, except perhaps for our retail and oil and gas articles.

Those two have their own interesting connections to each other. Both reflect on the last decade; in retrospect, 2014 was a formative year for the 49th state.

That year, marijuana was legalized, launching a new industry and a host of support services. The marijuana industry is particularly of interest to me as it is, in many ways, uniquely Alaskan since regulations require that marijuana growers, product manufacturers, and retailers are residents. This requirement works for and against the industry, limiting competition from Outside but also limiting some methods of controlling costs.

The oil and gas story is also anchored in 2014 as that’s the year voters decided to preserve Senate Bill 21, regulating how oil is taxed, instead of implementing a new tax structure, launching ten years of oil tax stability. That same year oil prices tanked, throwing the state into a recession it was barely recovering from five years later. At the time, the devastating effect of a drop in oil prices left many questioning how long the state would continue to try to function based on the swell and crash of one commodity instead of taking active steps to diversify state revenue sources.

It’s obvious to say (but I will anyway): a healthy economy is essential for healthy communities, no matter what definition of “health” one considers. I don’t believe, when voting to decriminalize the manufacturing, sale, and possession of marijuana, that most Alaskans were focused on general economic diversity. I suspect most wanted to use marijuana without the risk of legal consequences (perhaps, for some, to the benefit of their health) or liked the idea of taxing a product that, realistically, Alaskans were selling and buying anyway. But every decision Alaskans make to diversify our economy moves us in a positive direction for our stability as a state. Oil was essential to our statehood and remains a pillar of our economy, but it can’t pay for everything forever, as we’ve seen.

I can only hope that we are learning from our past to forge a brighter future. And on that note, as we close out this year and look forward to another: be well.