I’m feeling dazed and confused. Or maybe it’s whiplash. Just three weeks ago, the Santa Monica City Council passed a resolution condemning the needle exchange program in city parks because of grave concern about drug activity in the city, but this past week, the Council expressed their unanimous support for maximizing the number of cannabis dispensaries.
Marijuana isn’t meth, and pot is legal in California. But that doesn’t eliminate the seeming contradiction regarding public health concerns.
The City Staff presented Council with three options for cannabis retailer density, and the Council chose the maximal one, with up to 62 potential retail locations. For comparison, Culver City, with half the population of Santa Monica, has a cap of two cannabis retailers. Long Beach has 29 dispensaries, but four times our population.
To be fair, just because 62 sites in the city will be allowed, doesn’t mean there will be 62 cannabis storefronts setting up shop. The Council was concerned about the previous difficulty medicinal cannabis merchants had finding landlords willing to rent to them, contributing to the years-long delay between Council authorization in 2017 and the first dispensary opening in 2023. However, there were far more limitations placed on the medicinal cannabis retailers, which were only allowed within a very narrow swath of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards and were required to have a 600-foot buffer from schools, daycare centers, social service centers, libraries, parks and other dispensaries.
The Council has chosen to significantly diminish the restrictions for recreational cannabis, keeping the 600-foot buffer for schools and daycare (mandated by the state) but allowing vendors every 300 feet elsewhere in commercial and industrial zones, or one per block. Despite four councilmembers attending a rally in Reed Park on April 16 to protest the scourge of drug use in city parks, only Councilmember Parra objected to selling pot near parks. Admittedly, the rally’s focus was on injectable drugs, and increased toking in the parks won’t result in discarded needles harming children. But discarded joint butts are toxic to dogs, and there are studies from the National Institutes of Health showing cannabis use can increase the risk of schizophrenia and opioid abuse, leading causes for the addictions and homelessness currently plaguing our city.
These aren’t reasons for Santa Monica to reject the legal use of recreational marijuana, but they’re among the reasons to want far fewer than 62 pot dealerships in an 8-square-mile city. What’s baffling is that until last week, the Council also wanted fewer. In October, Mayor Brock was adamant that the 700 feet between the single existing cannabis dispensary and Reed Park was insufficient, and Councilmember Zwick suggested requiring even more space between dispensaries to prevent over concentration in any one area. Councilmember Davis stated she didn’t want more than eight cannabis retailers in the city, and Councilmember Torosis suggested no more than 10, which was the original cap recommended during the Council’s study session on the issue in June 2023.
During that discussion, Ajay Kolluri, the consultant hired by the city, recommended numerous municipal cannabis regulations relating to public safety, neighborhood protection and preventing youth access. But somehow these were forgotten or abandoned along the way. When Councilmember De La Torre inquired last week about methods to prevent underage access, it was suggested that it was a state issue. He received the same response from the City Attorney when asking about candy-flavored cannabis being marketed to kids. But there isn’t any state regulation for flavored edible products, and the risk to children was the subject of an LA Times editorial last year.
I’m guessing many adult Santa Monica residents will be happy to know they will soon be able to purchase recreational marijuana closer to home and that the city will be receiving the tax revenue. But I’m also guessing there are many residents who may not savor the prospect of pot’s aroma infiltrating Santa Monica’s streets (and playgrounds) as it does in some other cities. I don’t pretend to know which group represents the majority of the city, so I’m hoping people will let me know — and let their Councilmembers know, since regardless of your opinion about cannabis, the current plan seems half baked.
Devan Sipher, Santa Monica resident
