County cannabis lovers will be able to sit and smoke together at dispensaries, the way beer drinkers hang in bars.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan that will allow people to smoke pot at local cannabis dispensaries.
The new ordinance will allow onsite consumption of marijuana products at dispensaries in the unincorporated parts of the county.
Advocates say the new rule will give out-of-town visitors the only legal place to consume the products they purchase.
The change to the existing ordinance passed 3-2, with Supervisors Monica Martinez and Kim De Serpa casting dissenting votes.
It will return for a final read and adoption on March 25.
Santa Cruz County Cannabis Licensing Manager Sam Laforti said the new ordinance will likely draw visitors to the county, with an opportunity to tap into the state’s $17.1 billion cannabis tourism industry.
While the decision applies only to 11 dispensaries in the unincorporated areas—and not in the cities of Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Capitola or Scotts Valley—the discussion nevertheless drew praise from advocates saying the lounges would allow a safe and legal place to use THC-infused products, and criticism from others worrying they would normalize marijuana use for young people, and could increase the numbers of stoned drivers on the roadways.
“Our primary responsibility is to ensure that our school environments are safe, healthy and supportive of all students,” said Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah, reading a letter signed by all the county’s school superintendents. “And the proposed introduction of cannabis lounges directly conflicts with these objectives, posing substantial risks to youth.”
SVPD Capt. Scott Garner said that it’s difficult to detect THC intoxication in drivers, making it tricky to get them off the road.
“Adding marijuana lounges increases the likelihood of impaired driving in these areas, particularly connected to Highway 17,” he said.
Supervisor Monica Martinez said that it was notable that every school district superintendent in the county was in opposition to the proposal, and said that she was concerned about people driving to and from dispensary lounges on windy mountain roads.
“My main priority today is about the safety of the thousands of families and people who drive throughout this county every single day,” she said.
But Supervisor Manu Koenig disagreed, saying that the lounges will create a “viable, legal framework” for the cannabis market. He also pointed out that tourists who visit dispensaries have no legal place to smoke the products they purchase, and likely do so at beaches and parking lots.
“I find this idea that all of a sudden there is going to be all these high people driving around that there haven’t been before sort of laughable,” he said. “There is no legal place for tourists to consume cannabis in our community.”
Jeff Nordahl, president of Jade Nectar, said the lounges will offer an opportunity for people to get together to share in an activity, much like a bar.
“There are a lot of cannabis enthusiasts, and I think making it more of a social, communal, non-stigmatized activity where we have a safe place is going to be a good thing where a lot of people can benefit,” he said.
The ordinance requires the dispensaries to prevent the scent of marijuana from leaving the business, and to keep their employees from areas where the products are being consumed.
Board Chair Justin Cummings said that the sky-is-falling predictions from the 2016 legalization of recreational cannabis have not manifested.
He said that any minor can walk into a convenience store and see alcohol readily available on the shelves. The same is not true for marijuana dispensaries, he said.
“To get into a dispensary you have to go through such a line of defense,” he said. “It is extremely difficult for kids to even get inside a dispensary and get access to these kinds of products.
The retailers that exist here are extremely responsible and they take their businesses and commitments to ensuring safety very seriously.”
Supervisor Kim De Serpa said her no vote came from her concerns for public safety.
“My main concern here is people on the road that are under the influence,” she said. “To have people going into a lounge, getting high and trying to get out onto Soquel Drive is not a good idea.”
Even with the ordinance, residents will have to wait a while for smoking lounges to open.
Dispensaries will have to create a separate space and separate HVAC system, deal with the Planning Department and amend their license and safety plan, which includes getting signed off from the Sheriff’s office, said county spokesman Jason Hoppin.
i hunk we can have new opportunities for. our underemployed musicians who have suffered since the Covid Pandemic! Musicians lost two years and more from being able to perform to the public! This should open more venues where bands can find more music spots in our town! it will still be against the law to drive while intoxicated! There are numerous places in san Francisco for lounges! Perhaps having live music available would be a real boom to working musicians in the cannabis lounges and should be welcomed!