San Francisco Delays Recreational Cannabis Permits

San Francisco residents wanting to consume cannabis recreationally will unfortunately have to wait a bit longer before it is allowed in their area. The city won’t be issuing permits to sell recreational cannabis until it passes additional laws to regulate the market and create an equity program.

The city hopes to help low-income entrepreneurs, people of color and former drug offenders start cannabis-related businesses. Until the equity program is created and new regulations are set, the city will not issue permits to sell recreational cannabis.

Earlier this month, a 45-day moratorium was placed on new dispensaries to give time to create an equity program. The city’s Board of Supervisors also asked the Office of Cannabis and the city controller in July to submit a report on equity in the cannabis industry and submit it by November. The Office of Cannabis just hired its director in August.

Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, who introduced an ordinance with proposed regulations this week along with Mayor Ed Lee, said the current city’s cannabis laws are far from perfect. “Out of a 70-page ordinance, less than a page talks about how to make (the industry) equitable,” he said. His proposal included a 300-foot buffer between cannabis businesses and a 600-foot buffer from school buildings. Existing businesses are not included in those regulations.

The city also must set new laws for dispensaries to make them comply with state laws that require all parts of the supply chain to be regulated. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act requires all cultivators and manufacturers to send product to a third party for testing. Therefore, underground growers and manufacturers will have to now be licensed by the city.

The city will allow existing medical cannabis dispensaries to apply for a 120-day license so they can stay open after January 1 so they can stay open which the new regulations structure is finished.