Until recently, the Wild West of U.S. cannabis lacked robust statewide regulations which left California cannabis companies subject to unclear rules and risk of federal shutdowns. The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) created these regulations, but ultimately left control in the hands of local cities and counties. At last count, California has 58 counties and 482 incorporated cities across the state, each with the option to create its own rules or ban marijuana altogether. In this California Cannabis Countdown series, we plan to cover who is banning, who is waiting, and who is embracing the change to legalize marijuana permits, regulations, taxes and all. For each city and county, well discuss its location, history with cannabis, current law, and proposed law to give you a clearer picture of where to locate your cannabis business, how to keep it legal, and what you will and wont be allowed to do. Our last California Cannabis Countdown post was on Calaveras County, and before that, Monterey County and the City of Emeryville.
Welcome to the California Cannabis Countdown.
Berkeley is known for being avery liberal city, so its not surprising that it had laws addressing marijuana enforcement long before California legalized the use of medical marijuana throughout the state. It currently has four legal dispensaries operating within the city and it allows an unlimited number of cannabis collectives through a unique provision for locations incidental to residential use. The city is now considering increasing the number of its permitted dispensaries as well as passing regulations specifically for medical cannabis businesses focused primarily on cultivation.
Location. Berkeley is an incorporated city in Alameda County located in the region of the Bay Area commonly referred to as the East Bay, and borders the fellow East Bay cities of Oakland and Emeryville. It is home to the University of California, Berkeley and it is considered one of the most politically liberal cities in the United States.
Berkeleys History with Cannabis. In 1979, Berkeley voters passed the Berkeley Marijuana Initiative II which ordered the citys police department to make the possession, cultivation, sale and transportation of marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority.
The 1979 initiative remained the law in Berkeley until November 4, 2008, when Berkeley voters passed the Patients Access to Medical Cannabis Act of 2008 (Measure JJ) in order to implement Californias Compassionate Use Act of 1996. Under Measure JJ, the Berkeley Medical Cannabis Commission was established and Chapter 12.26 was added to the Berkeley city code to regulate medical cannabis collectives. Chapter 12.26 initially allowed for three medical cannabis dispensaries within Berkeley city limits. Further amendments to Berkeleys medical cannabis regulations were passed through Measure T on November 2, 2010.
On July 8, 2014, the Berkeley City Council passed new ordinances to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries and collectives operating in the city through Chapter 12.27. The new regulations also approved the selection of a fourth dispensary in Berkeley which was officially announced on May 10, 2016. At the same time, the City Council recommended that local law be changed to allow two additional dispensaries within the city, which would increase the total number of permitted dispensaries in Berkeley to six.
Berkeleys Current Cannabis Laws.Cannabis collectives in Berkeley consist of a group of patients and primary caregivers whose purpose is to provide for the cultivation and distribution of medical cannabis to their members. The city allows cannabis collectives to be organized as any statutory business entity in California as long as they are operated in a not-for-profit manner. Though collectives are allowed only in residential districts, dispensaries are authorized to operate at a non-residential location and may cultivate, acquire, bake, store, process, test, and transport medical cannabis as well as provide other incidental services to their members.
Medical cannabis dispensaries in Berkeley must be located in commercial zoning districts. The sections of the medical cannabis regulations regarding dispensaries include:
- Eligibility requirements requires a dispensary be operated as a not-for-profit cooperative or collective, lists criminal convictions that disallow a person from having a position with a dispensary other than as a member, and disallows a principal of a dispensary to be a principal in any other Berkeley dispensary
- Information requirements details the information every dispensary must provide to Berkeley and update annually
- Operating Standards includes standards for: membership; non-diversion; dispensing; members and employees; security; neighborhood compatibility; consumption of medical cannabis, tobacco and alcohol; accessibility; and termination of membership
- Signage requires that signs with specific text be posted at the entrance and conspicuously inside the dispensary
- Product Safety, Quality Assurance and Labeling provides information on testing of medical cannabis, medical cannabis products and edibles for specific compounds and contaminants, as well as rules on packaging and labeling
- Medical cannabis for low income Members requires that at least 2% (by weight) of the annual amount of medical cannabis provided by a dispensary to all members be provided at no cost to very low-income members who are Berkeley residents
- Records requires dispensaries to maintain contemporaneous financial and operational records to show compliance with local and applicable state laws regarding the dispensarys finances, membership, and operations
- Ranking and allocation procedure and criteria allows the City Council to establish procedures and criteria for accepting and approving applications for dispensaries, which were eventually established by the City Council on July 1, 2014 in anticipation of its approval of the fourth Berkeley dispensary
- Confidentiality of information protects the confidentiality of information submitted by dispensaries to the city, including information regarding principals and members of dispensaries, recordings from security cameras, and states that dispensaries shall not collect or maintain protected health information
Medical cannabis collectives in Berkeley must be located in residential zoning districts and must be incidental to the residential use of the property. In addition to complying with many of the operating standards applicable to dispensaries, a collective operating in Berkeley is subject to the following operating limitations:
- A collective may not generate ...
