These are tantalizing times for recreational pot consumers hoping to buy recreational weed on State Street. This Friday morning, no fewer than six cannabis operators will be put through their paces at a beauty pageant for pot shops hosted by a team of City Hall administrators who will be selecting the top three. Earlier this year, the City Council decreed there would be no more than three cannabis retailers within city limits pursuant to rules adopted in the wake of Proposition 64, the 2016 ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana cultivation, distillation, manufacture, and retail sales. But even when the final winners are announced a couple of months from now, the victors must still endure the time-consuming process of getting building permits approved and certificates of occupancy issued.
Anthony Wagner, City Hall’s de facto pot czar — and Police Chief Lori Luhnow’s right-hand man — suggested that the next cannabis emporium to open its doors in Santa Barbara will most likely be an old-school medical dispensary slated for 118 North Milpas Street. Wagner predicted that could happen within the next month. He likewise suggested that another medical — as opposed to recreational — dispensary could soon open on upper De la Vina Street.
In the meantime, he said, competition between the six candidates for recreational dispensaries has grown sharp and intense. “We’ve reached the stage where the cannibalistic process is starting to take place in order to preserve or replace those in line,” Wagner said. “This is the beginning of the nasty phase of things.”