Pot shops get OK for recreational sales

The pace is picking up in the countdown to Jan. 1, 2018, when recreational cannabis for people over 21 becomes legal in California.
The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act signed into law last week includes a provision to , allow dispensary owners to possess two licenses — medical and recreational —and sell the products at a single location.
Since Proposition 64 was passed by voters last fall, state officials have been creating new regulations that focus on the recreational use of marijuana.
“We’re pretty hopeful that Santa Cruz County will see the wisdom of aligning their ordinances with the state,” said Jim Coffis, a spokesman for Green Trade Santa Cruz, a 24-member group advocating environmentally responsible cultivation. “We’re particularly excited about the cottage-industry provision.”
Coffis referred to the state’s one-acre limit on cultivation until at least 2023. Small growers fear that mega-cultivators drive them out of business with huge farms.
In Santa Cruz County, current ordinances say that small grows cannot be larger than about half an acre.
“The county can be more restrictive but not more permissive then the state,” said Loretta Moreno, county interim cannabis licensing manager.
Moreno said a draft environmental impact report, in the works since February, will come before the Board of Supervisors for comment in mid-August. The public comment and response period will conclude this fall, with the report going to the county Planning Commission in late December. The issue will come back to supervisors shortly after the new year.
In the meantime, pot growers are limited to 99 plants per parcel and, more importantly, no new licenses are being considered — which has put a strain on would-be-growers.
“Half of the (cannabis) producers have left the county because of the uncertainty,” said Coffis, referring to the standstill in application while the process works its way through the system.
In San Lorenzo Valley 188 growers have registered with the county, according to former Chief Administrative Officer Susan Maurillo. In the county, 13 existing dispensaries have applied for new licenses required by the new ordinance.