Arguably one of the most overdue topics facing the city of Santa Monica is finally set for discussion in Tuesday’s Council meeting, that being the policy currently surrounding the legal availability of cannabis.
While the sale of medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, the very first dispensary has only just opened in Santa Monica. The City allowed applications for permits to sell marijuana in a period running from December 2017 to February 2018 and 21 requests were received. From there, two were chosen, one for CPC Compassion, Inc. and the other for Harvest of Santa Monica.
The former is the outlet that’s just opened at 925 Wilshire Blvd and operates under the name of the store, the Local Cannabis Company. The latter was meant to be located at 1416 Wilshire Blvd, but that has yet to appear. Moreover, it took an additional 18 months after the permit was granted for the outlet to actually open.
Santa Monica’s medical marijuana dispensary zoning ordinance, set in October 2017, dictated that only two licenses should be granted and the policy be reviewed in February 2020. However, at that point it was voted to be extended to January 2023 and in May 2022, Council