The State of Stores and Cities after California Goes Legal

January 03, 2018 California

California went legal on cannabis this New Year’s Day. However, when it comes to the number of stores that were open for business on the New Year’s Day, the answer might be more surprising than what you expected. The California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control had issued temporary licenses to several dozen stores. The licenses were set to take effect from the 1st of January. However, the issuance of the license was in no way a certainty of the stores being open on the New Year’s Day. This, surprisingly, came as a surprise to quite a few people who were looking to start off the New Year with cannabis.

The Center of the Festivities

Regardless of what the general scenario might have been, it doesn’t in any way mean that there were no legalization festivities. A number of stores, including the Harborside Health, Oakland, Caliva, San Jose, Kind Peoples, Santa Cruz and Berkeley Patients Group, Berkley had announced, in advance, the timings of their grand inaugural. Caliva, San Jose had even announced commemorative gifts for the first 100 customers. It’s a wonderful way to attract customers, don’t you think?

Licensed Adult-Use Retail Stores in the Different Cities of California

Licensed Adult-Use Retail Stores in the Different Cities of California – Image powered by Bdnews24.com

There are a number of licensed adult-use retail stores that will be opening all over California. The people living in a majority of the cities in California will have an access to adult-use cannabis. The people of Sacramento are the luckiest—on paper at least—for they have got 12 licensed retailers of adult-use cannabis to choose from. Cathedral City, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz and San Diego appear to be well-covered as well, with 10, 10, 9, 8 and 7 stores respectively. Los Angeles comes in next with 5 licensed retailers of cannabis to show. Mount Shasta, Oakland and Shasta have only got 3 licensed retail stores of cannabis each, while Ben Lomond, Berkeley, Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Rio Vista Sebastopol and Ukiah will have to make do with 2 retailers each. The people of Boulder Creek, Carmel, Castroville, Cotati, Monterey, Hayward, Eureka, Hopland, Los Gatos, Mendocino, Richmond, Salinas and Woodlake have only got a single store, in each of their cities, at their disposal.

Regardless of what the number of stores in each city and county might show, the fact of the matter is that the date of their openings is dependent heavily upon the laws and rules of those individual cities and counties. For instance: San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento and Oakland had all allowed for the retail stores to be opened on the 1st of January. What this means is that a majority of the people, of these cities, would have been able to make use of the legalization law on the New Year’s Day. On the other hand, cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Ana and Modesto have allowed for the retail stores to be functional shortly after the New Year’s Day. But not all cities are as lucky, it appears. The people of Fresno, Bakersfield, Anaheim and Riverside won’t be able to make use of the cannabis legalization law, at all, owing to how their individual laws still prohibit it. The people of Long Beach, Stockton and San Bernardino, however, will need to hold their horses for a little longer, for the legalization of retail stores will take a little more time.

The differences in the laws of some of cities came as a surprise to a majority of the observers. Sacramento, for example, has showed great relaxation in its laws and has welcomed the idea of cannabis legalization. This is the reason why there are seven such stores in Sacramento that were operational on the New Year’s Day, on the backs of a clearance from the city government, without even having received their licenses. Then there are cities like Stockton and San Bernardino who are exhibiting great care and caution in the drafting of the regulations for the legalization of adult-use cannabis. When you consider the cities on the other end of the spectrum—such as Bakersfield and Anaheim—that have outright rejected the idea of legalization, you have got to wonder: don’t the laws regarding an issue of several cities in the same state differ by a bit too much?

The Other Municipalities in the California

California – Image powered by Cannabisnow.com

There are a number of other municipalities in the state of California. Here’s an overview of the situation and laws regarding the legalization of cannabis there:

Arcata

The city is in the finalizing phase of its regulations for retail cannabis. The city expects that that it will have approved operating permits for two retail stores of adult-use cannabis in downtown Arcata.

Berkeley

Berkeley has welcomed the legalization law and a number of stores were open for the New Year’s Day.

Cathedral City

Cathedral City has got the highest ratio for the most licensed retailers of cannabis per capita, in the entire California, with a total of 10 retailers.

Crescent City

Currently, the city prohibits all kinds of dealings of cannabis. However, new regulations can be expected to be introduced sometime in 2018. Fingers crossed!

Eureka

The regulations of Eureka resemble closely with the regulations of Berkeley.

Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County currently prohibits cannabis stores in such sections of the county that are unincorporated.

Orange County

The regulations are similar to Los Angeles County for cannabis is banned in the unincorporated sections of the county. However, Santa Ana has legalized cannabis.

Pomona

The use of cannabis is banned throughout Pomona

Redding

Except for Shasta Lake and Mount Shasta, cannabis remains banned throughout Redding as well.

Santa Barbara

The city doesn’t have licensed retailers of cannabis yet but has certain zones where the retail of cannabis has been legalized.

Santa Cruz

A lot of retail stores of adult-use cannabis were open on the New Year’s Day.

Santa Monica

Two medical dispensaries have been licensed, but there are no retailers for adult-use.

West Hollywood

The city will issue eight licenses to adult-use cannabis stores. Four of these stores have already obtained their licenses.

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