Delivery Rules
The leaders of 24 California cities are out of touch with their constituents . . . and everybody else.
by Bridget Hennessey, Vice President for Government Relations at Weedmaps
Cannabis’ winning streak continues in the Golden State. About three-dozen pro-cannabis local ballot measures won soundly throughout California on Election Day. But the latest win, made public last week, occurred in a court of law.
Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rosemary McGuire dismissed a lawsuit by 24 California cities wanting to nullify state regulations allowing cannabis home delivery in jurisdictions that banned cannabis retail. Judge McGuire noted that there is nothing in California law preventing cities from enforcing local ordinances restricting home delivery. According to Her Honor, the matter “is not ripe for adjudication.”
She’s absolutely right. But the 24 cities argued that Proposition 64 — the 2016 ballot measure that legalized adult-use cannabis in California — guaranteed them “local control.” That means Prop 64 may have legalized adult-use cannabis in California, but it didn’t mean it had to be sold everywhere.
The lawsuit was unnecessary — just another way to demonize cannabis and make people fear something they don’t understand. These jurisdictions can require delivery services to obtain a license from a specific city and operate within local ordinances.
Local control has been a roadblock for legal cannabis access. According to the Los Angeles Times, “state officials estimated there would be as many as 6,000 cannabis shops licensed in the first few years, but there are currently 707 stores and 310 delivery companies with licenses.” More than 70 percent of California cities and counties ban cannabis sales.
That is clearly not what voters wanted or expected when Proposition 64 passed — by wide margins. I have referenced in several previous posts that a poll conducted last February by David Binder Research for Weedmaps found that nearly 80% of Californians who voted for adult-use cannabis in 2016 said dispensaries should be allowed to open in jurisdictions that supported the legislation.
But that is not the only example of elected officials not respecting, reflecting and representing their constituents. Public support of cannabis legalization is at an all time high among American households. Why isn’t that reflected in American state houses, town councils and city halls?
According to a new Gallup poll, Americans are more likely now than at any point in the past five decades to support cannabis legalization. The 68% of U.S. adults who currently support legal cannabis is nominally Gallup’s highest reading, exceeding the 64% to 66% range seen from 2017 to 2019
They first measured the public’s views of cannabis legalization in 1969, when 12% of Americans backed it; by 1977, support had more than doubled to 28%. It did not exceed 30% until 2000 but has risen steeply in the two decades since then, and is now twice what it was in 2001 and 2003.
The latest data are from a Sept. 30-Oct. 15 poll, conducted before the election that saw cannabis legalization proposals on the ballot in several states. Voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota authorized adult-use cannabis in the Nov. 3 election (joining 11 other states and the District of Columbia). Voters in Mississippi and South Dakota joined 33 states and the District of Columbia in passing medical cannabis laws. South Dakota was the first state to do both at the same time.
The tide has shifted. Legal cannabis is in the “majority for” side. It’s time to make voters afraid of something else. And it’s time to stop blaming cannabis for the problems we’ve been too lazy or too frightened to fix. As the widely successful New Jersey ballot measure to legalize adult use cannabis would urge (for several reasons): it’s time to turn the page.
Unfortunately, most political pundits in California expect that the 24 cities will appeal Judge McGuire’s decision — all the way to the California Supreme Court.
Maybe the Gallup organization should survey public support for that.
