Opportunity in the Desert

Riverside County has been reluctant to warm up to cannabis, but the unincorporated areas of the county, such as Gilman Hot Springs, Edgemont and North Palm Springs could soon be opened up to regulated dispensaries and cultivation.

On August 29, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1, with one supervisor absent, in favor of item number 3.7, to initiate amendments to ordinances 348, 866, 925 and 928, and direct the Office of County Counsel to craft a new ordinance to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities in unincorporated areas of Riverside County.

“[Prohibition] is like a very expensive game of whack-a-mole in which there are no prizes.”

Before the vote, Supervisors Kevin Jeffries and Chuck Washington, who composed Riverside County’s cannabis ad hoc committee, had recommended to their colleagues in the Board of Supervisors to move forward with a new ordinance to regulate cannabis.

Supervisor Kevin Jeffries told CULTURE about the shared goals between members of the board, shortly after the vote on August 29. “Our goal is to develop a rigorous regulatory system that will put law-abiding marijuana businesses in zones away from schools and parks and residential neighborhoods, ensure they are secure, that they are regularly inspected to be sure they aren’t selling to minors and that they generate sufficient revenues to regulate the legal businesses and finally drive out the illegal ones that already exist in our neighborhoods,” he said. According to Jeffries, as of late-August, there are nine illegal dispensaries in his immediate area, but cracking down on them “is like a very expensive game of whack-a-mole in which there are no prizes.”

Supervisor Jeffries did not vote in favor of Proposition 64, and he is not a cannabis enthusiast, however he believes in coming up with a solution to end the exhausting debate of whether to allow cannabis in Riverside County. “Today’s vote was only the first step in crafting an ordinance, authorizing staff to begin the process of writing a comprehensive regulatory framework for cannabis-related businesses,” Jeffries explained. The ultimate test, he said, will be the voters. If the board passes an ordinance to regulate, license and tax cannabis, an initiative could be ready for the November 2018 ballot.

Getting the initiative on the June 2018 ballot is also a possibility, Jeffries explained. If the voters reject the ordinance, Riverside County will continue to maintain its existing blanket prohibition on cannabis-related businesses in unincorporated areas.

“The ordinance writing process will take several months, and include public workshops and meetings, and the public and various stakeholders, public and private, will have the opportunity to express their opposition or support to various parts of the plan,” Jeffries explained. No concrete decisions have been made yet concerning specific regulations or zones, but the development of comprehensive licensing, regulation and taxation that conforms to Proposition 64 is already underway. The new ordinance may include a provision that mandates that those who are operating illegally may not be able to apply for a certain period of time.

According to the Office of County Counsel, five cities in Riverside County have established permits for commercial cannabis operations including Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs and Perris. Many more cities in the county, such as Lake Elsinore, have strings of dispensaries already open in unincorporated areas. The area could benefit from regulations on a county level.