Looking Toward the Future

Once a figurative wasteland for legal cannabis, San Diego has emerged as one of California’s most progressive cities. Now that line has been crossed into adult-use, it’s been deemed a success. However, members of the industry are holding their breath for the comedown. We’ve seen the hype and the long lines to get into dispensaries—but beyond the first few weeks, what else can we expect?

Retail Rules

For the licensed cannabis stores in San Diego, the weeks leading up to Jan. 1 were filled with some anticipation, but mostly excitement. They were celebrating last-minute issuances of state licenses and planning grand opening events for the public. Dispensary buyers were stocking up on inventory, especially products with a THC dosage too potent for the new regulations for recreational cannabis. Nearly every adult-use shop in town was also hiring and prepping new staff in order to be ready for a massive influx of new and very curious customers.

The official launch of adult sales on Jan. 1 brought celebrations and long queues at the handful of stores that were able to get local and state permits in time. Thousands of cannabis enthusiasts waited patiently for hours, just to get their hands on some of the state’s first and finest legal cannabis products.

“Thousands of cannabis enthusiasts waited patiently for hours, just to get their hands on some of the state’s first and finest legal cannabis products.”

Licensed operators, who are currently in business thanks to California’s “Temporary License” program, are now preparing their lengthy and detailed annual license applications, which must be submitted within 120 days as of Jan. 1.

Applicants will also need to get ready for the new track-and-trace computer database system to come online later this year. California will be using METRC, a system already tested in more advanced legal markets like Colorado. This software will track the movement of every plant legally being grown in the state, as well as any resulting by-products, all the way to the cash register where you purchase the item. Using this software is just one of the many food-grade industry standards coming to our local cannabis industry.

High Supply

In the city of San Diego, dozens of hopeful applicants in the non-retail space—like cultivators, extractors, edible makers and distribution companies—are still making their way through the local licensing process. There are a total of 40 spots available city-wide. Once completed, they too can apply for temporary licensure from the state and be a shoo-in for legal dispensary inventory.

The applicants are hopeful that local permits will be issued by the summer, at which point San Diego will finally have a fully-functioning supply chain within the city. Without enough licensed operators, particularly testing labs and distributors, dispensaries will soon run dry of their inventory, leaving shelves that were once-fully-stocked now empty.

Outside the city limits, the county has a lot of work to do in developing a working commercial cannabis system. For now, it’s up to smaller cities to decide how many businesses they want to allow and then self-regulate accordingly.

La Mesa should be just around the corner in implementing its medical dispensary, cultivation and manufacturing licensing structure; though, applicants have been waiting approximately a year already to have their permits issued.

More recently, in Oceanside, an ad hoc committee was able to convince the city council of the dire need for medical cannabis access. Though implementation will still take a few months, it will be the only city for miles around allowing any type of commercial cannabis sales, making Oceanside the hub for North County’s medical cannabis patients.

When it comes to access for those in suburban and rural parts of San Diego, our fight is still far from over. Think of the first couple months of 2018 as a novelty period for legal cannabis. After all, there are only a dozen or so cities in California where adult sales are currently allowed.

For the rest of the state, it seems as if the last proponents of Prohibition are ready to put it off as long as possible. It’s never been more important to be aware of and involved in local government; our vote to legalize cannabis means nothing if we don’t stand up for the communities where we live.