Recreational Rights

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]L[/dropcap]ong Beach will reconcile its laws to rightfully reflect what the majority of its citizens voted for when they approved Proposition 64 in 2016. On June 19, Long Beach City Council voted to regulate recreational businesses including dispensaries, distributors, cultivators and testing labs in the city. Councilmembers voted 7 to 1 in favor of the bill. Councilmember Stacy Mungo, representing District 5, voted “no” and Councilmember Al Austin was absent from the vote.

“About 64 percent” of Long Beach residents approved recreational cannabis in 2016, Long Beach Vice Mayor Rex Richardson told CULTURE. Mayor Robert Garcia, who is the first openly gay person to be elected Mayor of Long Beach, stated that the decision by Long Beach voters to approve recreational cannabis was “pretty clear.”

Long Beach—once a sanctuary for countless cannabis-friendly musical acts—is almost synonymous with cannabis to a generation of music fans.

Long Beach citizens have consistently supported medical and recreational cannabis throughout history. “Every time this issue has been presented to Long Beach voters, they’ve expressed that they want the city to grapple with this issue, to provide recreational access. The conversation started with medicinal, so we’ve learned a lot of lessons over the years,” Richardson said.

The ordinance amends the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.92 and establishes Zoning Code Amendment (ZCA18-003) and Local Coastal Program Amendment (LCPA17-009) to amend Title 21 (a zoning ordinance),  relating to the regulation of adult-use commercial cannabis activity in Long Beach, according to city documents.

Throughout the years, Long Beach has seen its ups and downs when it comes to dispensaries. Long Beach’s 2016 initiative, Measure MM, set the cap on medical dispensaries at 32. Those dispensaries will be able to apply to sell recreational cannabis. “Those 32 can apply for recreational, but there are a number of other business categories from manufacturing—which actually creates jobs—to cultivation, lab-testing, and there is no cap on those types of businesses,” Richardson explained. No new dispensaries, however, will be allowed to open unless one of the medical dispensaries closes.

In addition to facing no cap in the number of licenses, non-dispensary businesses will enjoy fewer regulations. Those businesses will be able to apply for medical, recreational or both types of licenses.

“Every time this issue has been presented to Long Beach voters, they’ve expressed that they want the city to grapple with this issue, to provide recreational access.”

Many of the rules for medical dispensaries will remain intact for recreational dispensaries, such as the 600-foot to 1,000-foot buffer zones. “Some things we’ve done differently [than other cities.] Businesses need to submit a community reinvestment plan and describe how they intend to work with adjacent neighborhoods and low-income areas across the city,” Richardson said. “We’ve thought about how these businesses interact with every type of neighbor there is.”

Like a handful of other major Californian cities, Long Beach also plans to roll out a social equity program. “A lot of this has been outlined in our cannabis equity program,” Richardson said. “That’s really the focal point and heart of the recreational cannabis ordinance.”

Richardson is personally proud of the inclusion of the social equity program, an aspect of the ordinance that he’d like to highlight. “I think what is special about our ordinance is the fact that we’re able to bring the community together and the industry together, who have very diverse opinions to agree on cannabis equity,” he said. “It ensures that local folks, and people who have been impacted by cannabis enforcement laws, have an opportunity to right some of the wrongs in the past with economic opportunities.”

The benefits of allowing recreational cannabis sales include economic rejuvenation, given the popularity of cannabis in 2018. “We already anticipate about $4.4 million in general fund revenue from medical cannabis for next year. So, having recreational, we could potentially see $750,000 on top of that, bringing it over $5 million dollars per year—and that’s a conservative, modest estimate.”

Long Beach is set to become a potentially large market, now that city officials have made the decision to regulate recreational cannabis rather than ban it.