Long Beach to Slowly Phase in Medical Cannabis Collectives

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]L[/dropcap]ong Beach could once again be a destination for medical cannabis. The Long Beach City Council  voted Tuesday on whether or not to strike down the city’s ban on cannabis collectives. The revised motion was passed and will begin with four delivery services and allow for up to seven collectives after review.

The revised motion, written by councilmember Suzie Price, was passed with a 5-4 vote. Only councilmembers Rex Richardson, Roberto Uranga, Dee Andrews and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal opposed the bill.

Back in 2011, collectives were flourishing in Long Beach with upwards of over 40 known storefronts. The city began shutting down almost all collectives beginning in February 2012. Long Beach Police Chief Rober Luna said the department has issued 142 search warrants for rogue dispensaries.

The new plan will first allow four deliveries, then four storefronts if they run smoothly. Three more may follow. Collective owners are disappointed that the number of potential dispensaries has been dropped from nine to seven. Half a million people live within Long Beach city limits. “You are creating a self-fulfilling, police-centric policy because you will have lines out the store, therefore public nuisance, therefore police calls, therefore enforcement efforts and we’ve kind of gone backward,” said Jeff Abrams of One Love Beach Club. “So please, lets think about that Wal-Martization.”

Long Beach, like so many other cities in Southern California, has moved from storefront locations to about 40 delivery operations in order to work around local bans. Recently, Long Beach Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal requested that the city draft guidelines in order to update the city’s cannabis policy for the passage of the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act.

“I think in the seven years that we’ve attempted to have some reasonable policy in place, we’ve come to a place where we can take a measured approach and that measured approach is really a number as small as nine,” Lowenthal said. “I don’t have any data of what a city of our size would really require if we were to meet all the needs of people who were in medical need of medical marijuana, but I don’t think we’re here to determine that because none of us is an expert on that.”