Desert Hot Springs is giving the green light for cannabis dispensaries to add areas where customers can consume their products on site.
On Tuesday, the city council unanimously voted to allow these consumption spaces in its commercial, industrial and mixed-use districts. This would allow dispensaries and other types of cannabis businesses — such as cultivators — to have tasting rooms or tourist and education components, said Christina Newsom, the city’s compliance director.
This decision doesn’t come as a surprise. The council voted early this year to have staff create ordinances that would enact a myriad of changes to the city’s cannabis policies, including allowing consumption spaces and permanently lowering its cultivation tax. It approved reducing the cannabis cultivation tax by 43.6%, and has been working through carrying out other changes meant to help the struggling industry.