Back in 2013, Santa Monica’s left-leaning officials raised the hopes of thousands of medical patients by suggesting the possibility of opening two pot shops in town. Then, a year later in 2014, the city’s Planning Commission deliberated a new recommendation from staff at Planning and Community Development, which considered banning retail outlets altogether in favour of direct cannabis delivery.
Despite the liberal marijuana laws for medical use in California, and even licensed retailers operating in nearby Los Angeles, the city of Santa Monica has yet to permit a single retailer to open its doors anywhere in the city, not even for medical patients. Those using it to treat illnesses have been relying on weed delivery services from the outset, or travelling to neighbouring jurisdictions to get it.
This is unlikely to change with the legalization of recreational sales. Even if the city does allow pot shops to operate within its borders, cannabis delivery in Santa Monica will remain the city’s preferred method of operation. Even then, planning staff had concerns about crime and parking issues, claiming them insurmountable and weed delivery, despite not being legit, the best way to service consumers.
This is notably more progressive than the two weed shops the City Council wanted to vote on years back. Some activists for the medical use of pot were advocating for at least four outlets, which is the number that West Hollywood allows, and very successfully too. Michael Chernis, an attorney representing marijuana dispensaries in Santa Monica is fighting for the city to open retail outlets.
He posits that all businesses face parking challenges, but it never prevents them from opening their doors. Chernis named three studies showing that crime levels at dispensaries mirror those at other retailers, concluding that dispensaries are not attracting crime more than any other business. Furthermore, the city has yet to legalize cannabis delivery, despite it being a borderline legal service.
The state of California is still drafting regulations for the distribution of recreational marijuana, which includes laws for cannabis delivery in Santa Monica and other municipalities. The city will make its own decision whether to allow delivery or not, but because of its past affiliation with delivery preference over retail outlets, experts foresee weed delivery being the main method of purchase in the future.
Cannabis delivery in Santa Monica, albeit quasi-legal, is already a lucrative business. According to Chernis, there are those in the City Hall bureaucracy who do not want to see weed shops in town itself, even if some of the city’s newer political classes do, primarily because of constituent demand. Some think the city is creating excuses.
Chernis says that originally, the city was discussing allowing dispensaries to operate in Santa Monica’s medical district. However, now planning staff have concerns about parking and other safety issues. "They set up a problem so there is a problem," Chernis explains. "If we are going to allow two dispensaries, they have to be in one of the most impacted parking areas in the city."
Chernis continued, "Then they say it has got a really bad parking problem, so let us not allow them. That is the logic." With the popularity of online marijuana sales skyrocketing across the globe, it is unlikely that consumers will care if there is a pot shop in town or not. As they do now already, recreational users will simply order cannabis delivery in Santa Monica, and lawmakers will have to regulate it accordingly
