The legally murky haze of rules and regulations surrounding Santa Barbara’s seven documented medical marijuana dispensaries got a whole lot easier to see through this week, as the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously approved an ordinance aimed at clearing up issues ranging from permits and zoning to on-site consumption and universal performance standards. Even as federal drug agents working with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department raided a dispensary within city limits for the first time ever this past weekend, councilmembers voted in support of medicinal cannabis users. Moments before the motion passed with a 4-0 vote-Mayor Marty Blum and Councilmember Das Williams were absent-Councilmember Helene Schneider summed up the sprit of the day as “successfully finding the balance between providing legal access to necessary medicine for those who need it while also providing rules for being a good neighbor to those who dispense it.”
Spurred into action late last summer, when the number of dispensaries in town exceeded the number of Starbucks coffee shops, the City Council placed a six-month moratorium on new club applications at the request of several dispensary owners wishing to better define the legal landscape of their emerging industry. After all, at that time, one needed to do little more than apply for a business license in order to open up shop.
After brainstorming sessions at the staff level and in meetings of both the Ordinance Committee and the Planning Commission, an ordinance was proposed this week that, among other things, allows new clubs in commercially zoned areas on lower Milpas Street from Carpinteria Street to Canon Perdido, upper State Street from Calle Real to Calle Laureles, and on the Mesa within 1,000 feet of Meigs Road. Clubs are also prohibited from operating within 500 feet of any K-12 school, public park, or previously existing dispensary. Additionally, the ordinance outlaws on-site consumption of cannabis, save for THC-laced edibles eaten by employees; requires a background check on prospective business operators; mandates accurate and confidential patient records; and prevents the clubs from selling alcohol or marijuana paraphernalia. Also of note, the ordinance grants the power to approve business licenses to the city staff hearing officer and grants licenses indefinitely, as long as the location and ownership of the club remain the same.