Skip to main content

San Diego moves forward!


Yesterday was the long anticipated San Diego City Council meeting to discuss the city's position on licensing for adult use cannabis.  The official docket was to vote on the following:

Amendment to the Municipal Code and Local Coastal Program to Address the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. - The project provides two alternative amendments to the Municipal Code to address the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. 

 Option 1 allows testing of marijuana and marijuana products in testing labs in industrial zones and commercial zones that prohibit residential uses. 

 Option 2 includes option 1 and also permits cultivation, distribution, and production of marijuana and marijuana products with approval of a Process Three Conditional Use Permit in light and heavy industrial zones. Marijuana production facilities will be limited to a maximum of two per City Council District. (Rev. 9/8/17)

Suffice it to say that it was a well attended meeting.  There were close to 100 speakers from the general public with impassioned (some highly entertaining) voices on all sides of the discussion.  I decided to speak as a citizen in opposition, because I believe that both of the options are too restrictive.  Two of the main reasons I advocate for a more liberal policy are as follows:

1) Recreational users want access to this plant and medical patients need access to it.  They will get it one way or another.  If cannabis is not readily accessible through legal channels, the black market will continue to thrive.  Black market operators do not concern themselves with toxicity, public safety, preventing youth from access, avoiding harmful contaminants, safe packaging, or any other critically important considerations.  Black market operators also don't bother with sales or income tax for obvious reasons.

2) San Diego has already approved licensing for retail dispensary locations.  If the city does not allow for cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution, the retail operators will have zero access to a legal, local supply chain.  This means the retail shelves in San Diego will be stocked with (at best) legal product from other municipalities or (at worst) local black market product.  Neither of these will necessarily comply with the same health and safety standards that we will have in San Diego.

After well over 4 hours of discussion, the City Council voted 6-3 in favor of an amended version of Option 2.  The amendment expands the limit of 2 per district to a citywide cap of 40 total licenses.

I have to believe that the dozens of responsible, well-researched, and articulate public statements made in support of this liberalization played a role in yesterdays vote.

Video from the meeting can be found here: http://granicus.sandiego.gov/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=7129

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018...too soon, too soon..

January 1, 2018 marked an important landmark for the cannabis industry in California.  As early as 6 am, legal dispensaries started selling cannabis for adult ("recreational") use. I woke up early and visited Mankind Coop .  They were bringing in the new year and the new rules with some music, T-shirts, photo booth, and other tokens of appreciation for this moment in time. Already, we are seeing the positive and negative ramifications of the modernized regulatory paradigm.  Every customer that purchased product in California starting 1/1 received their purchases in child proof packaging.  "Adult Use" customers purchases included additional taxes that their state and local governments will deploy to improve their communities, provide drug education, etc.   The new regulations bring quite a bit of confusion and uncertainty to the industry as well.  For example, even as local municipalities are still working through their final licensing plans, retail outlets are
31 comments
Read more

I think it's OK to start with anecdotes

The medical benefits of marijuana have been under-researched and cast in the shadows of the war on drugs, particularly in the United States.  However, at many of the industry events I attend, I hear incredible stories of cannabis business owners that entered the industry professionally because of a transformational, often life-saving experience with the plant.  As such, since there are no large scale clinical studies, I wanted to dive a little deeper into #whyicannabis item #4 and share some incredible stores of the curative nature of this plant.  This list is only a tiny sample of anecdotes.  There is so much to learn and discover about what this plant can do. For now, I'll leave aside the plants benefits of reducing anxiety and stimulating appetite.  Anyone that has tried cannabis can likely attest to those side effects (I seem to remember someone making a butter-finger quesadilla when I was in business school...how's that for appetite stimulation?).  However, these seeming
3 comments
Read more

Mother of the Year? Not this year.

From the City of Oceanside website: The Medical Marijuana Ad-hoc Committee was created by the City Council on April 19 to specifically address the possibility of new medical marijuana regulations for the City of Oceanside. All work will be completed within six months per City regulations regarding ad-hoc committees and the committee’s report will be presented to the City Council for review and possible action in November, 2017.   The meetings are open to the public, and typically feature a couple speakers, followed by questions from the committee and comments from the public.  I've attended a couple. The cultivator that I work with has been very active at these meetings and has made an incredibly positive impression on the Oceanside officials, as evidenced by the commissioner's request for a site visit and for the operator to speak at one of the committee meetings. The most recent meeting was yesterday at 4:00.  I picked Riley (my 7 year old, first grade, daughter) up fro
3 comments
Read more