The legal cannabis industry has finally begun to gell a little bit in Northern California. Ukiah (Mendocino county) has a few more stores, as does Eureka (Humboldt county) that also provides a Cannabis Commercial Zone with a few processing facilities. Del Norte County, where I am now, recently lifted it’s ban on anything and has a few stores just getting started.
The state has something like 900 retail stores now, with an estimated 3,000 pending. After 4 years of legalization and licensing. The biggest impediment are the jurisdictions which opted out, covering about 3/4 of the state’s geographical area. All states run into this problem, and no one has found the solution.
On top of the state’s burdensome laws, regulations, and bureaucracies, counties and towns impose their own restrictions compounding the challenge to get businesses off the ground. It’s especially concerning when the counties here in the Emerald Triangle bog down their own growers with taxes and fees. In Napa County the motivation is obvious: cannabis is an agricultural money-maker that might compete with grapes. But mostly it’s the electeds that see cannabis as a pot of free money to be raided. Obstructions at the local level do nothing except slow everybody down and prevent sales from being recorded. Most places wouldn’t think of dragging down their own agricultural businesses.
Branding is California is taking off now, with a good many labels getting state-wide distribution by buying the small farmer’s products at wholesale. Some are owned by multimillion dollar corporations, and some are focused on regional markets. It’s a shame that individual farmers aren’t allowed to sell direct to the consumer, especially in Northern California. But that’s characteristic in many legal states.
So after four years, the California legal cannabis market is finally looking like most folk envisioned it, despite the plethora of obstacles which must be navigated.