The ‘Green Rush’ Is Crushed
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Closed; Patients Left with Few Options
At this point, it is hard to imagine, but just a handful of years ago, Santa Barbara had more medical marijuana storefronts than it did Starbucks coffeehouses. Now, after a perfect storm of local government regulation and high-profile arrests — coupled with multiple rounds of federal raids on South Coast dispensaries and threats of property seizures — this county has gone the way of so many others in California: It is now a cannabis club–free zone. Whether you love them, hate them, or simply need one for help with a serious medical condition, the fact remains that there are no longer any legal dispensaries operating in Santa Barbara.
As senior city planner Danny Kato confirmed last week, “We now have zero medical marijuana dispensaries. I don’t know for certain about illegal ones, but I haven’t heard of any enforcement [issues] with those, either.” Moreover, according to Kato, what was once a healthy waiting list of would-be clubs seeking city approval is now nothing more than a blank page with no evidence of interest in joining the brick-and-mortar ganja game.
The real rub of this new dispensary-less landscape is the impact it’s had on the estimated 10,000-plus medical marijuana patients who call this county home, the men and women who, with a doctor’s recommendation and according to California state law, are legally able to use various cannabis-based medicines to treat a lengthy list of ailments like attention deficit disorder, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and insomnia. Without a storefront to safely and consistently secure their medicine, these folks are left with only three options: enter the black market and look for relief through an illegal drug dealer, grow their own, or seek out a collective to join, the latter often a clandestine operation run out of a residential neighborhood that doesn’t advertise and, by nature, is often hard not only to find but also to join.
