California Legislation Would Require Cities to Open Cannabis Stores

While weed is legal in California, according to an article on Benzinga, 76% of California cities and 69% of counties still ban medical cannabis retail stores. But a bill being reintroduced by a California Assembly Member would change that and require cities where Prop 64 passed to allow medical cannabis stores to open. Assembly Member Ting says this move would help to curtail the sale of black-market marijuana in the state.

To determine the number of medical cannabis stores a city would be required to open, the bill calls for looking at the number of liquor licenses currently active in the city. California cities would be required to open a number of cannabis stores that is no fewer than 16.6% of the liquor stores in the city. If that number is less than one, the city would then be allowed to limit the number of cannabis stores to one for every 15,000 residents.