The City of Paso Robles is taking steps to allow recreational marijuana stores and delivery services. In April, the city council approved a strategic goal to create economic development through cannabis business opportunities.
Then, at a meeting last week, the council voted to proceed with regional workshops to prepare for the drafting of regulations that would allow retail marijuana to operate. The first reading of the regulation will take place in November.
The city plans to begin accepting applications for commercial marijuana outlets in January. 2023. Currently, Paso Robles only allows medical marijuana delivery services within the city.
Grace Hall, co-owner of Dove’s Green Garden, a charter business in Paso Robles, said in a public statement to the board of directors last week that her business was out of the city of North County.
It said it was not allowed to compete with the recreational marijuana delivery service of the City of North County. city.
Recreational marijuana is sold daily in Paso Robles by other delivery companies that are allowed into our town to sell. If you have a supply license, you can sell nationally,” Hall said. The city council voted 4 to 1 to draft a retail cannabis ordinance.
Trustee John Haymon cast the only dissenting vote. Hammon said there was no problem with medical cannabis, but everyone he spoke to felt that retail marijuana was not in the city’s best interest. “There are many places to get drugs, but personally, I don’t think you need to get them in Paso Robles,” Hamon said.
Earlier this year, in February and April, the city council approved the development of a cannabis control framework as part of its goals for the next two years.
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On July 19, the Council decided to move this process forward with his 4-to-1 decision to hold a public meeting over the next two months, followed by a meeting in October to present this information to the Council.
The mayor, Ty Lewis, told the city council that he hopes to begin dispensary applications by January 2023 if the city decides to allow retail sales of recreational cannabis. Based on work the city has done with cannabis consultants HdL Companies, Lewis said the city likely has enough demand to house between two and four dispensaries.
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HdL’s Ajay Kolluri said the state has issued more than 8,000 cannabis cultivation licenses but only 849 cannabis retail licenses. It shows that there is a big gap between the number of retailers that can sell. “There’s really a bottleneck in retail,” Kolluri told the council.
