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California Cannabis Updates

Media Report: Slow Pace of Dispensary Openings Leaves Fresno, CA. with Budget Shortfall

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Via NugMag

The slow pace of opening retail cannabis stores in Fresno, Calif. has left the 2023 budget short by more than $3 million, prompting city leaders to expedite the process to get businesses up and running. is being considered for change.

California voters passed Prop. 64 in 2016, legalizing cannabis for adult use with over 57% of the vote. Two years later, Fresno voters approved an ordinance to tax the retail sale of recreational marijuana, setting the stage for the opening of adult-use cannabis stores in the city.

In 2019, the Fresno City Council amended the City Ordinance to regulate recreational cannabis, and in 2021, the city will begin awarding the first of 19 preliminary cannabis retail licenses issued to date. rice field. But more than a year later, he’s only opened two recreational marijuana retailers in Fresno, and the pace is wreaking havoc on the city’s budget projections.

The city’s budget, approved in 2023, projected that cannabis taxes and fees would generate $5.37 million in revenue into the city’s coffers. But with only two dispensaries open so far, the city is now projecting cannabis tax revenue of $2,113,100 and a deficit of more than $3 million. insanity,” he said.

“We continue to overestimate cannabis every year.” esparza said.

Only two clinics have ever opened in Fresno

Dispensaries opening in Fresno, Embark and Artist Tree began serving recreational marijuana customers on the same day in July 2022. The remaining 17 companies that were granted preliminary licenses have submitted applications for Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) that require approval. Before a building permit has been issued and construction or renovation of the site has commenced. So far, 13 of the 17 pending CPU applications have been approved, and he could have a new clinic opening in May this year.

Sontaya Rose, director of communications for the city of Fresno, noted that the timeline for building and opening pharmacies is controlled by business owners, not the city.

“So I can’t say for sure,” Rose said in an email. Fresno Bee.

“Overall, the site is taking longer to open than originally anticipated.”

City leaders and business owners in the cannabis industry cite several reasons for the slow pace of dispensary openings. According to the city, some of the upcoming clinics will be located in older buildings that need major renovations before they can open and begin serving customers. Others have had to make accommodations for their landlords, including waiting for current tenants to vacate the building so they can begin renovations on the site.

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Slow Pace of Dispensary Openings Leaves Fresno, CA. with Budget Shortfall



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California Cannabis Updates

August 23 2024: Department of Cannabis Control Files Emergency Rulemaking Action to Readopt Cultivation License Changes pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 26061.5

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Department of Cannabis Control Files Emergency Rulemaking Action to Readopt Cultivation License Changes pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 26061.5

August 23, 2024

The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has filed an action with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to readopt its emergency regulations implementing Senate Bill 833, codified in Business and Professions Code section 26061.5, which requires the DCC to allow cultivation licensees to make certain changes including: change the type of size of a cultivation license; place a cultivation license in inactive status; or make a one-time change to a cultivation license’s date of renewal.

View the proposed finding of emergency and notice of proposed adoption and the proposed text of emergency regulations below:

The five-calendar day public comment period for this emergency action starts once OAL posts notice of the filing on its website. Emergency regulations under review by OAL can be found on its Emergency Regulation’s Under Review webpage.



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California Cannabis Updates

Oakland police seize banned tobacco products, psilocybin candy bars from smoke shop

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Oakland police are investigating an unlicensed smoke shop in East Oakland where officers seized several illegal products earlier this week, including cartons of banned tobacco products from out of state and nearly 10 pounds of marijuana bud.

Police on Wednesday confiscated other items at the shop in the 2500 block of Seminary Avenue that included Psilocybin “magic” mushroom candy bars and close to 20 pounds of suspected THC products.

Officers with the police department’s Alcohol Beverage Action Team were following up on anonymous complaints about the shop. In addition to seizing illegal items, they detained a store clerk.

No arrests were made, but the case will be forwarded to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office for further action, including civil charges and potential eviction, police said in a news release on Thursday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/east-oakland-smoke-shop-bust-illegal-tobacco-marijuana-mushrooms-thc-seminary-avenue/



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California Cannabis Updates

CBS News Report: Cannabis-legal California battling surging illegal marijuana operations

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DISCOVERY BAY – In a state where cannabis is widely legalized, California still has a significant illegal marijuana scene. The state Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) is only two years old but is quickly tackling and dismantling these operations.

For Bill Jones of the DCC, it was just another Tuesday as he pulled up to an unsuspecting house in a gated neighborhood. To the untrained eye, one would never guess what was hiding inside.

“It really could be anywhere,” Jones told CBS News Bay Area. “It could be your neighborhood, could be my neighborhood.

CBS News Bay Area was invited on a ride along while DCC officers executed search warrants and seized illegal crops.

Inside four homes in a Discovery Bay neighborhood, officers found illegal cannabis operations.

“We’re going to see anywhere between 3,000 to 5,000 plants,” Jones said. “And we’re talking about a square mile here.”

Jones has been in law enforcement for nearly three decades and the DCC holds a personal significance as he was part of the team tasked with standing the department up in 2021.

“I hired all these officers,” Jones said. “I’m so proud of my people. They work so hard.”

Upon entry into the house, the smell of cannabis fills the space and each room has its own microclimate as those who tended to the crop closely monitored the environment of the plants. But in doing so, the practice created an illegal and hazardous space.

“There’s a really sharp contrast between the illegal cannabis market and the licensed cannabis market,” Jones explained. “The illegal market which in part has criminal organizations like Mexican cartels and Chinese triads and other transnational criminal organizations operating it. They pay no taxes, they have no concerns about how they grow and distribute, they use banned chemicals and pesticides. They take advantage of their employees, sometimes they even engage in human trafficking.”

In the first two stops, officers seized nearly 2,000 plants totaling 1,000 pounds of cannabis.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/cannabis-control-ride-pot-bust-grow-house-discovery-bay/



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