County Supes: Nobody’s Going to Hell If There’s a Pot Shop in Julian
Oh, what a difference just one election makes.
County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s proposal to allow recreational cannabis products to be sold in unincorporated areas of San Diego died last August for lack of a second. Not one of the other four members of the board would even allow the topic to be discussed.
While California and County residents approved the recreational use of marijuana in 2016, San Diego’s Board of Supervisors in March, 2017 voted to ban all marijuana businesses in the county's unincorporated areas. Five existing medical cannabis facilities were ordered to be phased out by 2022.
The District 4 Supervisor’s August ask was for approval of zoning ordinances allowing cultivation and retail sale of cannabis and related products, including edibles, in commercial and industrial areas, a cannabis permitting program including a "social equity" component, and creation of a taxation system.
As KPBS noted at the time:
In a statement also posted on Twitter after the board's lack of action, Fletcher said his proposal "would have allowed for the development of a cannabis industry that is safe, regulated and legal."
He criticized Supervisor Kristin Gaspar for leading fellow board members "on an outdated and out-of-touch view of legal cannabis."
Fletcher said that "by saying 'no' to creating a regulated market, they have opened the floodgates for more illegal shops, more criminal activity and substantial losses in tax revenue to our county."
In November, two long term members of the Board of Supervisors retired due to term limits and were replaced by Terra Lawson Remer (D3) and Nora Vargas (D1).
No longer will a sane and safe set of policies be relegated to the round file due to the reactionary belief systems of elected officials set in their ways.
Newly elected Supervisor Nora Vargas joined with Fletcher on Monday to announce proposals for policies fostering economic access and social equity in the cannabis industry and rectifying the devastating impact the war on drugs has had on Black and Brown communities.
The proposed policies for unincorporated parts of San Diego County include:
Putting social equity at the center of the cannabis permitting program
Agricultural, farming, retail, manufacturing business expansion
Create opportunities for people with past cannabis convictions and from communities impacted by the War on Drugs to apply for permits
Create good-paying jobs through labor peace agreements
No more unpermitted and potentially unsafe cannabis sales and operations in our communities
Mandatory distances from schools, places of worship and other places children and families gather
New code enforcement teams to ensure compliance
Needless to say, the leading voice for the flat earth society on the Board of Supervisors, namely D3’s Jim Desmond, has circled the wagons to oppose these policies.
https://twitter.com/jim_desmond/status/1352298739491192832?s=20
Like just about everything the right does these days, Desmond’s assertions are without merit… or should I just come out and say they’re friggin’ lies?
Legalizing pot in the unincorporated areas of San Diego won’t increase crime, drug use by young people, or any of the other claims where “correlation does not necessarily mean causation” made by Desmond and his ilk.
The Board of Supervisors will vote on these policies Wednesday January 27th. Final ratification will take place later this year.
https://twitter.com/JOE_co_uk/status/1353779963313446914?s=20
Also...
Not so humble brag. Yours truly got a call out on MSNBC yesterday, at about 4:10 on the video embedded below. Thanks to Andy Cohen for letting me know to wear shades when I went out yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXk1-EiuB94
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