Santa Cruz County extends moratorium on commercial pot business

A 45-day moratorium, banning any commercial recreational cannabis activity in Santa Cruz County, has been extended to 10 months and 15 days, according to county public information officer Jason Hoppin.

The moratorium was extended to allow local leaders to figure out the best way to regulate recreational cannabis, according to Hoppin.

“At some point within the next 10 months, the board (of supervisors) will issue regulations on how cannabis will be sold, transported and dealt with at the wholesale level,” said Hoppin.

While the delay comes as bad news for people looking to legally buy without a medical card, but Christopher Carr with Kind People’s Collective tells KION that it is better not to rush the process and take the time to figure out the best way to regulate cannabis.

“Santa Cruz (County) is trying to find the right players develop a plan, pitch that plan to the board of supervisors and hopefully implement this new law,” said Christopher Carr, with Kind People’s Collective.

Carr was selected by the county as one of those key players and although waiting to implement the law puts off possible new business for the shop he doesn’t think holding off is necessarily a bad thing.

“We want to develop the best policy possible while hearing from the public what’s on what is reasonable,” said Carr.

According to the county, they still need to figure out details on commercial licenses, taxes and regulations on indoor and outdoor growing and the long to-do list doesn’t stop there.

“Now that this industry is legal we need to come up with some rules for how we can protect kids, how we can protect neighborhoods and how can we can give people access to it (cannabis) in a way that is safe and works for everyone in the county,” said Hoppin.

After the passage of Prop. 64, California residents are allowed to consume marijuana at home, possess up to an ounce and have up to six plants at home. The law also states that it is up to local governments to figure out how to regulate the sale of recreational marijuana.

Hoppin said the county should have everything figured out by the end of 2017.