Santa Barbara’s Cannabis Laws Are Still Dazed and Confused
Update on the City and County's Efforts to Accommodate Recreational Marijuana
Keeping up with evolving cannabis laws in Santa Barbara is proving more difficult than deciding between Blue Dream and OG Kush. But the end is in sight.
City and county lawmakers are wrapping up a yearlong effort to draft regulations governing the marijuana industry across the supply chain. They are trying to balance the concerns of worried neighbors and those eager to get involved in the green rush. After all, the tax revenue is expected to relieve strapped county coffers.
In the city, the main question for hopeful consumers is where the retail shops will be located. The S.B. City Council voted to allow three storefronts, but not within 600 feet of a school or youth center, and they must have security guards on-site. Manufacturing labs will be confined to a pocket of properties on the city’s Eastside. The City Council voted to ban marijuana smoking lounges, and it’s already illegal to smoke in public places, just like the city’s tobacco laws.
