By Monterey Bud
Recreational marijuana sales in the Bay Area may not begin on New Year’s Day as originally planned, but if San Francisco’s Mayor Ed Lee signs legislation passed Tuesday night by the board of supervisors, cannabis sales could begin as early as Jan. 5, 2018.
In paving the way for recreational sales in The City, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also snubbed some last-minute attempts to restrict where their adult-use dispensaries can operate. Shot down in flames during Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors dismissed the following suggestions:
- 1,000-foot buffer zone between recreational shops and schools
- Neighborhood restrictions on number of dispensaries
- Allowing individual neighborhoods to ban dispensaries
Initially proposed by Sup. Norman Yee and Sup. Katy Tang, an attempt to limit the number of legal dispensaries operating within their districts was ultimately rejected Tuesday night by the Board of Supervisors.
Passed by a “veto-proof 10-1 vote,” the ordinance was initially delayed by a protracted debate over minority ownership and San Francisco’s proposed “equity laws,” according to SF Weekly. Creating a greater opportunity for all interested parties, the newly approved guidelines promote “women, people of color, and drug war victims whom the board would prefer to see much more of in the ownership ranks of the local marijuana industry.”
Once signed by Mayor Ed Lee, the legislation will permit San Francisco’s compliant medical marijuana dispensaries to apply for a temporary permit so they can begin selling recreational marijuana within the first week of the new year.
Primarily clustered in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) area, converted medical marijuana dispensaries selling recreational weed will be conveniently close to AT&T Park (home of the San Francisco Giants), Moscone Center, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
