By Brett Callwood
At the City Council meeting on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 8, the council voted in favor of Community Development Item 13B, “Amending Chapter 18.66 and Section 18.36.020 and Adding Chapter 5.80 to the Gardena Municipal Code Relating to Non- Storefront Retail Medicinal Cannabis Delivery Service Businesses.”
Essentially a mandatory requirement, the City had to make the changes in order to fall in line with SB1186, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom to, “prohibit a local jurisdiction from adopting or enforcing any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers by medicinal cannabis businesses, as defined, or that has the effect of prohibiting the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers in a timely and readily accessible manner and in types and quantities that are sufficient to meet demand from medicinal cannabis patients within the local jurisdiction, as specified.”
The City of Gardena has taken a hard line when it comes to marijuana dispensaries within the city limits, despite the fact that recreational marijuana is legal in the state of California. This law does nothing to change the recreational aspect–as things stand, there still won’t be recreational dispensaries or medicinal storefronts in Gardena.
But it does mean that delivery businesses must be allowed to operate uninhibited in the city, so that people with a genuine medical need as prescribed by a specialist will be able to receive their marijuana prescription with greater ease, which will be of great relief to people suffering with chronic pain.
Council Member Paulette Francis had questions, despite the fact that, again, the council had to pass the item. Once Francis had asked questions about the age requirement and how the prescriptions work (all of which falls in line with state law, keeping children safe), the vote passed 4-1 with Francis still voting against. This was an empty protest vote as, again, it had to pass for the city to be in line with state law.
Earlier, Item 13A passed unanimously: submission of the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
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