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 cover who is banning cannabis, who is waiting to see what to with cannabis, and who is embracing Californias 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 California 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 Oakland and before thatSan Francisco,Sonoma County, theCity of Davis, theCity of Santa Rosa,County and City of San Bernardino,Marin County,Nevada County, theCity of Lynwood, theCity of Coachella,Los Angeles County, theCity of Los Angeles, theCity of Desert Hot Springs,Sonoma County, theCity of Sacramento, theCity of Berkeley,Calaveras County,Monterey Countyand theCity of Emeryville.
Todays post is on Alameda County.
Welcome to the California Cannabis Countdown.
Location. Alameda County is the 7th most populous county in the state of California. Itscounty seat is in Oakland and it occupies much of the East Bay region. Its home to the Alameda County Fair and the Alameda County Fairgrounds, which can boast to being thehome of the oldest one-mile horse racing track in America. Hope that tidbit comes in handy on trivia night.
History with Cannabis and Current Cannabis Laws. Back in 2005, Alameda County (this post is addressing only Alameda County and not the City of Alameda) beganregulating cannabis by passing a medical cannabis dispensary ordinance. Though were always happy to see cities and counties embrace cannabis businesses with sensible and reasonable regulations, Alamedas first foray should bedescribed as a verytimid one. Alamedas ordinance only addressed medical cannabis dispensaries and it capped the number of dispensary licenses at three and it also limited the amount of cannabis a dispensary could keep on its premises.
With friendlier regulations in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Emeryville, this first ordinance put Alameda at a competitive disadvantage with potential cannabis businesses when compared to those cities. With the passage of the Medical Cannabis Regulation Safety Act (MCRSA), Alameda County (along with a number of other California jurisdictions) decided it was time to amend their cannabis ordinance. In June of 2016, the Alameda County Community Development Agency and the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council held a meeting to begin the process of updating Alamedas cannabis ordinance. If youve ever followed a cannabis ordinance as it winds its way through your local jurisdiction you are well aware that after one meeting comes many others supervisor meetings, planning commission meetings, citizen advisory committee meetings, and interdepartmental working group meetings, just to name a few. Like Gremlins,the meetings just continue to multiply. Let me not be too harsh on Alameda because slow progress is better than no progress and definitely better than these alternatives.
Proposed Cannabis Laws: On August 1, 2017, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors conducted the first reading of its proposed amendments to their cannabis ordinance and on September 12th of this year (we like to keep you up to date here on the Canna Law Blog) the Board ...
