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June 2018 •
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INSIDE What you need to know about recreational cannabis legalization ~ page 4 ~
EDITORIAL Erik Chalhoub, Editor 831.761.7353 echalhoub@register-pajaronian.com Luke Phillips, Editor 805.466.2585 ext 113 lphillips@atascaderonews.com
PRODUCTION Rob Chalhoub rchalhoub@register-pajaronian.com Jim Prostovich jprostovich@atascaderonews.com
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
Veterans dedicated to their mission ~ page 6 ~
‘Green Rush’ in Watsonville? ~ page 7 ~
Marijuana Festival ~ page 9 ~
Industry announces executive board ~ page 9 ~
Business Summit returns to Bay Area ~ page 9 ~
Red tape ties up legal sales ~ page 10 ~
Monterey County lowers cannabis tax rates ~ page 11 ~
Paso Robles continues drafting ordinance ~ page 11 ~
SANTA CLARA & SANTA CRUZ COUNTIES Tina Chavez, Marketing Director 831.761.7359 tchavez@register-pajaronian.com Jazmine Ancira, Marketing Associate 831.761.7326 jancira@register-pajaronian.com
MONTEREY COUNTY Sheryl Bailey, Marketing Associate 831.385.4880 sbailey@southcountynewspapers.com
SAN LUIS OBISPO, SANTA BARBARA, VENTURA COUNTIES Sheri Potruch, Marketing Associate 805.237.6060 ext 123 spotruch@pasoropblespress.com Adriana Novack, Marketing Associate 805.466.2585 ext 115 anovack@atascaderonews.com
Chronicle is a free publication distributed twice yearly, published by News Media Corporation in conjunction with the Register-Pajaronian, South County Newspapers, Paso Robles Press and Atascadero News. Questions about this product? Contact Jeanie Johnson, 831.761.7307 June 2018 •
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WHAT YOU
NEED
TO KNOW ABOUT
RECREATIONAL
CANNABIS
LEGALIZATION
On Jan. 1, under the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, dispensaries throughout California opened their doors to customers age 21 and over. Local government, cannabis industry, public health and youth prevention experts have worked together on local regulations for medical and adult use. Staff report
• You must be 21 to purchase or consume non-medical cannabis. You will be required to present ID, similar to alcohol and tobacco sales. • Adults 21 and older may legally possess up to one ounce of cannabis. • Middle and high school students caught in possession of cannabis will be required to complete drug education or counseling and may face additional penalties. • You may consume cannabis on private property but cannot consume, smoke, eat, or vape cannabis in public places, including sidewalks, bars and restaurants, parks or public places where smoking tobacco is illegal, including within 1,000 feet of a facility where children are present (school, day care center, etc.). Property owners and landlords may also ban the use and possession of cannabis on their properties. Fines may cost up to $250. • Even though it is legal under California law, you cannot consume or possess cannabis on federal lands such as national parks, even if the park is in California. • It is illegal to take cannabis across state lines, even if you are traveling to another state where cannabis is legal.
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• Driving high is a DUI. Cannabis can negatively affect reaction time, coordination and concentration, and increase accidents. • Using cannabis while pregnant is associated with lower birth weights, which is associated with health problems, and THC can reach your baby through your breast milk. • Cannabis should be stored out of reach in locked places, cabinets or boxes, to prevent consumption by children, pets, or youth. If a child consumes cannabis you can call poison control at 1-800-2221222. • Cannabis smoke irritates the lungs, and heavy smoking is associated with tissue damage. Secondhand smoke contains many of the same toxins and chemicals as tobacco smoke. • Be aware. Dabs, shatter, or wax may contain up to 90 percent THC, and the effects of edibles may not be felt until two hours later. That is why it is recommended to start low (five milligrams or less) and go slow, small incremental increases in dosage.
For information, visit www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/DO/ letstalkcannabis.
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Veterans Dedicated to their Mission Photo by Tarmo Hannula Sean Dyer waters rows of marijuana plants in a grow room. By TODD GUILD Watsonville’s first permitted marijuana growing facility is Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance, which currently distributes its products to dispensaries throughout the Bay Area, and its own in Santa Cruz. If Watsonville allows marijuana dispensaries when the city council takes up the issue next year, the organization will also sell from its 274 Kearney St. location. But retail sales are secondary to the group’s primary mission: providing free, high-quality medicinal marijuana to veterans and hopefully free them from dependence on opioids. Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance was founded in 2011 by military veterans Aaron Newsom and Jason Sweatt, both of whom were growing their own cannabis to replace or supplement prescription painkiller drugs.
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Watsonville’s first marijuana growing operation in full swing
That was the “We realized there was a whole “There is a safer alternative, and we’re crux of their community of veterans that going to continue to problem, and they are not could benefit from this medicine, fight for that.” alone. and we decided to make it our Personal stories According to a 2014 report mission,” Newsom said. by the U.S. SCVA VP of ComDepartment of munications and Veterans Affairs, more than 50 percent Public Affairs Seth Smith said he was in of veterans suffer from chronic pain. In graduate school in Princeton University 2014, the VA reported that it issued 1.3 when his mother got sick and needed a million prescriptions to veterans for opikidney transplant. oids such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, He was a match, and in the wake of methadone and morphine. the surgery he was in the hospital for Experts say that people who build about four days. addictions to such legal painkillers often “That was the first time I needed painturn to illegal ones such as heroin when killers for an extended period of time,” their prescriptions run out. he said. “And I immediately understood “We realized there was a whole comwhat the issues were. munity of veterans that could benefit Because I did not like the way they from this medicine, and we decided to made me feel.” make it our mission,” Newsom said. Doctors prescribed painkillers upon
his release from the hospital, but Smith said he threw them away. That was because his family brought him several different types of cannabis products. These, he said, worked better than any of the pharmaceuticals ever could. Smith said he met the founders and soon found a career path in SCVA and the Veteran Compassion Program. “It was one of those moments where you’re not really sure what you’re looking at, but you know you’re looking at something special,” Smith said. Newsom, a Santa Cruz native, served in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps. His return was difficult, however. He said he suffered from hyper-vigilance and insomnia, and found it difficult to feel safe. “I had a real tough time reintegrating and finding work,” he said.
Doctors prescribed a “gamut” of pharmaceuticals, which he found unhelpful. “They stunned me down a hole even more,” he said. When Newsom found success with cannabis, he decided to try farming his own. He used the GI Bill to earn his degree in organic farming from Cabrillo College.
‘Green rush’ not yet a reality in Watsonville By ERIK CHALHOUB
Veteran Compassion Program At the heart of SC Veterans Alliance’s program is its Veteran Compassion Program, which was created from a sad truth about veterans: only about 44 percent of them are enrolled with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The ones who aren’t are missing out on programs and services that could benefit them, Smith said. Organizers wanted a way to get vital information to veterans who have flown under the radar. “There’s this huge group of guys they can’t get to, because they never come to the other meetings,” Newsom said. Such a connection, and the camaraderie that naturally comes from it, is important at a time when an estimated 22 veterans commit suicide every day, Newsom said. “Just making that one difference, can be that difference in saving a life, or getting a life back on track before it goes too far off the road,” he said. SC Veterans Alliance began by holding meetings in Kind Peoples, a dispensary in Santa Cruz. Within two months they outgrew that facility and started holding meetings in the VFW hall on 7th Avenue in Santa Cruz. From there they moved to the Santa Cruz/Live Oak Grange. Some 150 veterans now attend the monthly meetings, where they cash in vouchers for free bags of marijuana. All of that is funded by retail sales. As such, the monthly meetings have shifted to being more about camaraderie and sharing experiences, Newsom said. The group also hopes to eventually hold Veteran Compassion Program meetings at the Watsonville location.
Multiple benefits Among SC Veterans Alliance’s clients are six WWII veterans, several from the Vietnam and Korean wars and the more recent conflicts in the Middle East. These people suffer from a variety of afflictions such as Post Traumatic
Photo by Tarmo Hannula Co-founder and chief operations officer Aaron Newsom talks about the growing operation. Stress Disorder, chronic pain, repetitive motion injuries and wounds, just to name a few. “Cannabis helps with all those things,” Smith said. Another part of their mission is reducing the stigma surrounding the marijuana industry, Smith said. “We’re trying to combat that by putting our best foot forward and being as transparent as possible,” he said. Advocates say that cannabis is not just for smoking, and certainly not only for getting “high.” It can be incorporated into salves, topical creams and gel caps. One compound found in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is responsible for the “high” that comes from using marijuana. But it also is an effective painkiller. Another compound is Cannabidiol (CBD), which does not produce a high and is thought to offer a wide range of benefits. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry indicated that CBD has slowed or stopped tumors in mice. A separate study from that same year in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics showed that CBD helped with the treatment of Glioma, one of the most aggressive and hardest to treat cancers. Using marijuana products has been known to help patients with chronic pain, muscle spasms, seizures and epilepsy.
The building Originally a cold storage business,
the building on 274 Kearney St. holds six separate 960-square-foot rooms, each with several rows of plants. All of these bask in the glow of several grow lights. The operation is driven by a hydroponic system that pumps nutrient-rich water through their roots. The business is permitted for 5,000 square feet, and Newsom hopes one day to add a second level to the indoor operation. Much of what was growing during a visit in late March was a strain known as Kosher Kush, renowned for its ability to induce sleep. “People drive from all over the state for this,” Smith said. Watsonville has issued six permits to grow, process and distribute marijuana in the city. SC Veterans Alliance is the only one currently operating fully. Watsonville Community Development Director Suzi Merriam said the city is not likely to consider allowing dispensaries this year. The Watsonville City Council must first approve updating its marijuana ordinance to allow testing of the marijuana products, Merriam said. No matter what the city decides to do with dispensaries, Newsom said that the organization will continue to provide safe access of medicinal cannabis to veterans. “We really mean that,” he said. “We’re not just growing it and using that as a guise. That was our mission, and then this became.”
For information, visit scveteransalliance.com.
WATSONVILLE — Now that recreational marijuana has been legalized in California, the state stands to gain more than $600 million in tax revenue during the first full year, officials estimate. The sales are driven by the increasing number of dispensaries popping up throughout the state, and research firm BDS Analytics estimates cannabis sales in California by the end of 2018 will come in at $3.7 billion, and $5.1 billion in 2019. But as Watsonville develops its marijuana ordinance piece by piece, the so-called “green rush” will take a little longer to reach the city. The Watsonville City Council approved medical marijuana cultivation in the city in January 2016. Over the next two years, it further updated its ordinance to allow not only cultivation, but manufacturing and distribution of marijuana for both medical and recreational uses, and capped the number of facilities at six. Dispensaries are still prohibited in Watsonville, and the city council will not be considering lifting that restriction this year, according to Community Development Director Suzi Merriam. She added that the council will likely consider allowing the city’s permitted facilities to test their products later in 2018. While the state is expected to see a boost in tax revenue from marijuana sales, Watsonville’s numbers are lagging behind. According to a budget report by Administrative Services Director Cynthia Czerwin, which was presented to the council in late February, the city is expected to only net nearly $80,000 from its 2016 voterapproved cannabis tax in the current fiscal year. Those numbers are well below the $825,511 the city budgeted, the report stated. The reason? Merriam said only one of the permitted facilities (Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance) has gone online, while the rest were, among other things, waiting on electrical upgrades from Pacific Gas & Electric. “Our developers are still dealing with PG&E and slow service times,” she said. However, most of the facilities are getting close to operational, according to Merriam. PG&E spokeswoman Mayra Tostado said the electrical process could take anywhere from two to three weeks or four to six months, depending on the size of the project and the infrastructure required. “There are no delays specific to Watsonville,” she said. “Project timelines can vary greatly depending on the type of service a customer requests and the conditions in the surrounding environment.”
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MARIJUANA FESTIVAL
first for fairgrounds
Thousands attend event
By TODD GUILD
WATSONVILLE — Thousands of marijuana aficionados gathered at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds on April 14 for Dreamsesh, a festival where growers and manufacturers showed off their wares and hordes of potential customers sampled the merchandise. The festival — in its inaugural run at the fairgrounds — drew about 300 vendors, who packed the J.J. Crosetti Building to sell marijuana from $10 gram-sized bags to massive bags that ran as high as $2,000. Vendors were also showing products such as cannabis-based oil extracts and tinctures, in addition to brownies, cookies and other food products infused with marijuana. This is in addition to clothing items, stickers and other mementos. And all throughout the hall, customers were sampling the wares, creating a cloud of smoke that filled the building and could be smelled across the grounds. James, who asked that his last name not be used, said the event gave attendees a chance to buy marijuana without
Cannabis Industry Association announces Executive Board Staff report MONTEREY COUNTY — The Monterey County Cannabis Industry Association (MCCIA) has elected its Executive Board to steer the association, which brings together members and stakeholders providing needed industry representation, education, and leadership in this new industry. The Executive Board members are Dave Potter, former Monterey County Board of Supervisor, District 5, as president, Jennifer Rosenthal Iverson, cannabis attorney as vice president, Chris Steinbruner, CPA as treasurer, and entrepreneur Pete Noto as secretary. The four Executive Board members will provide oversight for the Board of Directors and its subcommittees, and will ensure that there is one unified voice on behalf of the
cannabis industry. The MCCIA’s Board of Directors is comprised of cultivators, manufacturers, dispensary owners, distributors, attorneys and community and business leaders in Monterey County. “It is critical to have an industry trade group working to advance not only the needs of the cannabis businesses but also the needs of the community,” Potter said. “This is a historic time for the state of California and particularly Monterey County as agricultural leaders of the state and country. We want to ensure that there is organized leadership representing the industry as a whole and that we are developing this industry with the best interests of the community always in mind.” “These are exciting times for the cannabis industry and it is an honor to be a founding member of MCCIA,” Rosenthal said. “I find it a true privilege to serve as vice president and to help navigate the operators and those in our industry toward compliance in both Monterey County and at the state level.”
the onerous taxes imposed by Santa Cruz County. He bought an eighth-ounce bag. “You get a better deal, and you get more bang for your buck, that’s for sure,” he said. Visitors, meanwhile, browsed different strains of marijuana, with names such as Grape Cookie, Mochi, Candyland and whoisbillykinder, all of which filled jars, bags and boxes. Organizer Essex, who goes by one name, said his interest in cannabis began when his mother was suffering from cancer, and was helped immeasurably by using medical marijuana. “I do it because I believe in the industry,” he said. “I’m a firm believer that we need to get rid of the stigma.” Essex said he hopes to bring the event back to the fairgrounds. Fairgrounds manager Dave Kegebein said that the inaugural cannabis convention was a “dry-run,” to see whether the event will return in the future. “We’re always trying a variety of things,” he said. “The nice part is that the people are super polite and responsible.”
Annual Cannabis Business Summit returns to Bay Area
Staff report
SAN JOSE — The annual Cannabis Business Summit & Expo, now in its fifth year, returns to the Bay Area July 25-27. The annual summit, brings together more than 6,000 people involved in the industry. Entrepreneurs will convene for three days to learn how to grow their businesses. Attendees can explore 120,000 square feet of expo floor, bringing together exhibitors and top industry professionals leading in all aspects of the cannabis economy. Among the events lined up are a number of workshops. These include: • Industry Investment: Expensive Investment Mistakes to Avoid. July 25, 9 a.m. to noon. Join The Arcview Group for this workshop that will dive into the do’s and don’ts of funding a cannabis business. Arcview is the first and largest source of capital in the cannabis industry. Since inception, 1,200-plus dues-paying members have placed more than $160 million in more than 170 companies that have come
through the group. • Success in Sustainability: Developing, Evaluating and Promoting the Sustainability and Resiliency of Your Cannabis Business. July 25, 9 a.m. to noon. This session will start with an overview of sustainability metrics, exhibit the value of sustainably produced goods in the marketplace and illustrate the power of eco-labels as demonstrated in other crops such as coffee and chocolate. The bulk of the session will revolve around understanding and implementing sustainable measures that mitigate risk and save money. • Global Cannabis Economy Bootcamp. July 25, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees at this workshop will hear from marijuana and hemp industry veterans who have been in the business for more than 10 years and are now focused on what’s next: international expansion. The Cannabis Business Summit & Expo will take place July 25-27 at the San Jose Convention Center. For information and to register, visit www.cannabisbusinesssummit.com.
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Red tape ties up legal pot sales North County cannabis industry impacted by legalization, but for now it’s baby steps
By BETH GIUFFRE SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — With the state beginning to issue licenses for legal recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1, key players say that change and a greater sense of legitimacy is coming to the cannabis industry, but not as quickly as some had hoped. According to two local industry experts, the state’s medical marijuana trade is business as usual, as most businesses have been unable to move forward into the realm of recreational — the word is that, for now, they are sticking to selling medical marijuana only. And because of the increased amount of paperwork, compliance regulations and basic pain in the neck to begin the commerce of recreational marijuana, not a single business in North San Luis Obispo County has been able to begin a recreational marijuana products operation — not in the form of dispensaries, not by mail, and not by mobile service. What is happening since Jan. 1 is mostly North County City Council and Planning Commission talk, industry meetings and political ponderings — and it may be like this for months or even years to come. “Prop. 64 got shoved down our throats and screwed up everything, I think,” said Marie Roth, president of the San Luis Obispo County Cannabis Business Association. Roth is trying to educate politicians on the complex needs of the cannabis industry while at the same time working to teach the public and the cannabis industry about complex policy that ties up legacy growers in licensing nightmares and prevents new professional cannabis-related businesses to open up businesses in the first place. San Luis Obispo County, the City of Paso Robles and the City of Atascadero have been working on developing specific cannabis regulations for their respective jurisdictions. Motivation to possibly benefit from city and county tax revenue has led to many local forums and discussions, but the process has been slow and calculated, local cannabis industry folk say. “Since January my business has been off the charts because I’m a compliance specialist,” said Matthew Goodman, who founded the Seeds of Health Wellness
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Center in Paso Robles, an organic farmto-table cannabis collective serving SLO, Atascadero and Paso Robles. SOHWC is a stakeholder in California Cannabis Cultivation Licensing. Goodman’s main partner is a company called “Pro Greens,” a mobile dispensary operating out of Paso Robles. Knowing well the inner workings of the cannabis department for the County of San Luis Obispo, Goodman said the process of licensing in California must be followed “by the book.” “Here we are in the fourth month, almost the fifth month of this and of the 141 people who were allowed to apply for their license, six of them were able to do it,” Goodman said. “So then they opened it up to 250 people — six of them were able to do it. I represent four of those six.” Goodman said the licensing process in SLO County has been extremely difficult. As a compliance specialist, cannabis centers from other California cities hire him to design, consult and manage the extensive red tape for their buildings and grows. “You’ve got to write a site plan, a security plan, an odor mitigation plan — you have to have an engineer; you have to know what to tell the engineer,” he said. “You have to know all your security measures — your labor measures. Your theft prevention, your theft diversion.” Permanent regulations by the County Board of Supervisors on the unincorporated areas of San Luis Obispo were set last December. Atascadero and Paso Robles have yet to finalize their decisions on whether to allow dispensaries, among other limitations, while the county and its unincorporated areas has disallowed them, permitting only licensed mobile marijuana delivery services. Roth, who works in wealth management in Atascadero, acts as sort of a culture gap closer for people in SLO County who connects the somewhat “underground” but well-oiled marijuana industry with “suit-and-tie” professionals and stakeholders who have interest in the growing business of legalized marijuana. Roth would like to see the marijuana industry develop into a legitimate business without the stigma that sometimes surrounds the cannabis culture. “It’s kind of a weird mix,” Roth said,
taking a cautious approach to her role as a pro-cannabis industry person. She said this involves patience in a time when not much is happening. “But I can do that,” she said. “I can be a liaison. This is an opportunity to level up … to find our purpose in the community and be beneficial and to help, not just be there because somebody wants to own that business and somebody else wants to get stoned. “There’s no figuring it out. It’s just knowing where the weirdness is. How do we engage in the public policy process? And that has been a little bit of a learning curve. You have your policy makers who know nothing about the cannabis industry and the cannabis industry that knows nothing about policy.” Roth expressed excitement in the fact that locals are considering the concept of home farming and delivering the marijuana products to those who need it, but she doesn’t see it as realistic in the current bureaucratic process. “Anything that’s going to be consumable by another human — just go to the grocery store and ask them what they have to go through in order to have food and consumables available for customers,” she said. “It’s a whole new game and that’s where you guys are going to be operating in. Like it or not.” She said one of her clients who wished to start a licensed mobile dispensary had to first find a commercial services location in an unincorporated area, then had to spend $12,000 on an application for minor use permit (conditional use permits go for twice that amount). “That’s just for the permit,” Roth warned. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to get it approved all the way through.” Then she said the applicant must quickly get the application to the state in time, as well as arrange environmental reports, landlord permissions and meet sheriff’s office requirements. Roth said cultivators go through a slightly different process than store owners but it’s likewise an onerous process. Roth is someone who goes to the City Council meetings to advocate for the cannabis industry. She holds business expos to introduce the cannabis industry to the public and attends informational fairs to get people talking about how to
plan out the economic future of cannabis in San Luis Obispo County. Events like the SLO Cup, held on April 21, a recreational marijuana festival that involves a competition, make Roth a little nervous. “Different growers are competing,” she said. “Lots of people are judging. You take your little kits home and smoke it up and rate everything.” Her goal is to legitimize the cannabis business so that cultivators and marijuana businesses owners are treated fairly. Meanwhile, certain organizations, she said, continue to brand marijuana as a common party drug. Roth said organizations like SLO NORML (the organization that hosts the SLO Cup) and other groups differ from SLOCCBA. “I have to live in reality,” the business consultant said. “And I do want the respect of my business people.” Roth believes the industry as well as politicians need a better understanding of how each side of things works in SLO. “Let’s do it together,” she said. Roth knows of only one licensed delivery in San Luis Obispo County: Elite Care CA in Arroyo Grande. “They got their medicinal and they are going to be applying for their recreational but in the meantime the City of Arroyo Grande has to go back and change their ordinance to account for recreational because the ordinance says it’s only for medicinal,” Roth said. “Same thing with Grover Beach.” Goodman said it was much easier before Jan.1 to deliver cannabis products in San Luis Obispo County. “The only people that are successful now were getting ready between 2011 and 2015,” he said. “They are the most successful in the state, no ifs ands or buts.” Goodman said that cities and counties that didn’t have ordinances in place by 2015 ran into problems. “It’s just embarrassing for the county … This county is eons behind all these other ones that I’ve done,” he said. “And I’ve worked in every county and every city.” As a business entrepreneur and marijuana compliance specialist, Goodman has helped cannabis businesses get licensed all over the state. “Nobody can be in business yet because the county can’t get anyone
through plan check … they just can’t because they don’t know how to do it,” he said. The County Board of Supervisors has established permanent regulations for cannabis activities in the unincorporated areas of San Luis Obispo County, including the far reaching areas of the county such as Carrizo Plains and California Valley, and North County towns like Shandon, Templeton and Creston as of Dec. 31, 2017. Some cannabis-related business activities have been allowed, while others have been given limitations. The number of new marijuana grows has also been a hot topic — to cap or not to cap. According to Brandi Cummings, planner for the County of SLO, there were 83 approved registration by the end of August last year (89 attempted) in the North County planning area, and 191 approved registrations (291 attempted) in the Carrizo Planning area, which includes California Valley. Chief Code Enforcement Investigator Art Trinidade is heading the SLO inspection process of the more than 400 grow operations with Code Enforcer Harley Voss involved in the cannabis licensing. Goodman said the code enforcement process has been “the worst,” noting that an outside company called SWICA goes over the applications looking for strictly land use. “Because they’re only looking at land use, they’re disregarding the entire application process and it’s going to make it very difficult to give everybody their state license,” he said. For example, Goodman said, “Everybody has to do engineered road calculations for their farms, and it’s the only place in the state that’s asking for road calculations. It’s $3,500 and it’s a waste of time and money.” It’s more difficult for consumers too, he said, because legacy delivery services may no longer carry certain products that do not meet the new requirements. They are now required to have the proper sellers permits for each city they want to do business in. If a vape pen, for instance, isn’t coming from a distributor that didn’t meet the licensing requirements, the distributor is now out of business, he said. “For the end user who wants to get their medicine on, it’s a lot more difficult now because you have to wait until everyone gets licensed because you can’t sell unlicensed medicine,” he said. According to an article published by Marvin Rose, interim planning director for the Department of Planning and Building, all activities in unincorporated SLO County, except for personal and caregiver cultivation, require a county
land use permit to operate, in addition to a county business license and a state cannabis license, with specific cannabis activities allowed in each land use category: Personal cultivation, commercial cultivation, Cannabis Nurseries, Water, Cannabis Manufacturing, Cannabis Testing Facilities, Cannabis Dispensaries, Cannabis Distribution Facilities and Separation from Sensitive Uses. “As difficult as it has been,” Roth added, “I do see the value in not rushing into things. San Luis Obispo [City] will be interesting because they will consider recreational but they have to get through their ordinance formation and they’re working on it, whereas the other cities have made their ordinances only for medicinal.” Roth said that in Atascadero, all activity is banned. “You can put in a testing facility,” she said. “And they allow deliveries from outside dispensaries since they won’t allow a mobile delivery to be located within city limits.” Roth noted that of 58 counties in California, they all have their own ordinances, and within the counties the ordinances are broken down within municipalities. “It’s just ridiculous, it’s insanity,” she said, having to witness “tears of frustration” from those interested in involved in the cannabis industry, and yet she knows at the same time the process for SLO leadership might sometimes feel like “getting into a very cold pool.” But Roth will be patient. “I think they’re just trying to figure it out,” she said. “I really do.”
Monterey County lowers cannabis tax rates MONTEREY COUNTY — The Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted on May 22 to lower cannabis tax rates. The new rates will take affect on July 1. They are: • Mixed Light Cultivation (greenhouses): $5 per square foot • Indoor Cultivation: $8 per square foot • Nurseries: $1 per square foot • Manufacturers: 2.5 percent of gross receipts • Distributors: 2 percent of gross receipts • Testing: 1 percent of gross receipts • Retailers: 4 percent of gross receipts
Paso Robles continuing to draft cannabis ordinance By LUKE PHILLIPS and BETH BOLYARD PASO ROBLES — The Paso Robles City Council took action March 6 to allow medical marijuana delivery services to continue operating in the city through Temporary Use Permits until the city’s permanent cannabis ordinance can be formulated. The city’s current cannabis ordinance bans all commercial, brick-and-mortar marijuana businesses from operating inside the city limits, but allows for the delivery of marijuana for medical uses. Under new state marijuana laws, which took effect Jan. 1, cannabis delivery services must maintain a physical location in the city in which they operate and be licensed by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control. Since the businesses have not been allowed to establish physical locations, the city has not been able to approve the Bureau of Cannabis Control letters that would allow them to continue operating. The council unanimously approved a new city ordinance to allow the five established delivery services in Paso Robles to continue to operate under a Temporary Use Permit for the next year until a permanent ordinance is drafted. The council also approved an urgency ordinance that took effect immediately in order to allow the business to continue to operate. Ben Reed, who operates the CannaBuild cannabis delivery service, said that his business has never listed its residential address out of security concerns. “We haven’t ever listed our address as being in Paso because we had concerns with listing a residential address for security concerns with the community — we didn’t want to intermix that,” Reed said. “We sought a business address and we were told that we can’t have one until all of this is processed.” Reed said that his organization is a nonprofit serving 450 members and providing medication at discounted prices. “The bottom line is we’ve been a part of this community and we want to be
included,” he said. In response to concerns about the security of physical locations for marijuana businesses expressed by Councilman Steve Gregory, Paso Robles Police Department Lt. Ty Lewis said that the police department will be “heavily involved in making sure that the premises is secure and the product is safe.” “The state is very concerned about diversion as well and they have guidance and guidelines and we will be coordinating with other cities that are going through this to make sure that we follow the best practices,” he said. Mayor Steve Martin clarified that the ordinance changes only apply to medical marijuana and not recreational and said that the city would be working over the next nine months to draft a comprehensive cannabis ordinance with input from the public. “I think we’re going through an evolutionary time with regard to the attitudes toward cannabis,” Martin said. “And we as a community — at least in the state of California — have decided, as a community, that we want this substance to be legal and available and so it’s up to us as responsible adults to administer that as fairly and as responsibly as possible.” The Executive Director of the San Luis Obispo County Cannabis Business Association, Marie Roth, said the decision was a small step for the cannabis industry and that much more would need to be done to ensure cannabis-related businesses operated in compliance with the law. “This is a baby step, they’re understanding one more layer,” Roth said of the city’s decision. “They’re understanding delivery businesses need to get state licenses, and asking, ‘how can we help them do that?’” Roth praised the council’s decision and she said the decision reflected the city’s openness to helping those in need of delivery services. “Paso Robles is cognizant of the patient needs in the city,” Roth said. “They are cognizant of the local providers that have been providing and meeting those needs of the patients.”
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