Metropolis leaders in Solvang, California on Monday punted on a choice over whether or not or to not allow leisure hashish gross sales of their jurisdiction.
The Santa Maria Times reports that members of the town council in Solvang, which is positioned about 130 miles up the coast from Los Angeles, “voted 3-2 to hunt additional regulation enforcement enter earlier than contemplating an replace to metropolis code that might enable leisure use hashish gross sales inside metropolis limits.”
“It sounds to me that the hashish is ubiquitous. It’s in every single place. It’s not whether or not we’re going to permit it. It’s allowed. It’s whether or not we’re going to comply with allow a retail location in our metropolis. That’s what we’re deciding,” mentioned metropolis council member Elizabeth Orona, as quoted by the Santa Maria Times.
Though voters in California authorised a measure in 2016 legalizing leisure hashish use and gross sales within the state, Solvang opted out.
In 2018, the town council there authorised an ordinance banning the sale of leisure hashish.
Medical hashish, which has been authorized statewide in California since voters there legalized in 1996, is permitted in Solvang.
Town council in Solvang “adopted an ordinance [in 2018] permitting medicinal hashish retail gross sales within the metropolis to anybody holding a hashish card,” according to the Santa Maria Occasions, though the “quantity and site of medical hashish amenities have been restricted, and necessities for operation have been delineated together with safety measure necessities, and a neighborhood tax charge of 5% to 10%.”
Some members of the Solvang Metropolis Council objected to the delay, arguing that it’s time for the town to begin gathering tax income from hashish gross sales that has been misplaced to neighbroing communities the place leisure hashish gross sales are permitted.
“I’m not an enormous fan of pot. I wasn’t when it was medicinal. However the voters authorised this in 2016. … So long as persons are going from Solvang to Lompoc to get this, then Solvang is shedding out on the tax greenback,” council member Robert Clarke mentioned, as quoted by the Santa Maria Times.
Council member Claudia Orona, in the meantime, contended that pot shouldn’t be handled otherwise than different vices.
“I all the time discover it attention-grabbing that folks will convey up well being and issues of safety with hashish, however they by no means convey that up when one other wine tasting room or one other bar is opening,” Orona mentioned, as quoted by the newspaper.
“This isn’t a matter of hashish being obtainable in our group. It’s obtainable broadly by both folks touring to dispensaries or occurring web sites and apps and ordering and getting it (delivered) to house,” Orona added.
California’s authorized hashish business has fallen on onerous instances, because the illicit market continues to chew into gross sales, resulting in falling tax income.
In September, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill supposed to develop the authorized hashish market, by creating “a course of for California to enter into agreements with different states to permit hashish transactions with entities exterior California.”
The governor’s workplace mentioned on the time that, as a part of the 2022 price range, Newsom additionally “signed laws to offer tax aid to shoppers and the hashish business; help fairness companies; strengthen enforcement instruments in opposition to unlawful hashish operators; bolster employee protections; develop entry to authorized retail; and defend youth, environmental and public security packages funded by hashish tax income.”
“For too many Californians, the promise of hashish legalization stays out of attain,” mentioned Newsom. “These measures construct on the vital strides our state has made towards this purpose, however a lot work stays to construct an equitable, protected and sustainable authorized hashish business. I sit up for partnering with the Legislature and policymakers to totally notice hashish legalization in communities throughout California.”