If cannabis dispensary storefronts are an unregulated Wild West, marijuana delivery services are pure First International-grade anarchy. – Chris Roberts, Chem Tales 9/16/15

Between Monterey Bay Alternative Medicine in Del Rey Oaks (right next to Monterey) and the So-Cal Coop in Woodland Hills there are no locally permitted medical dispensaries for over 300 miles along the Central Coast of California. Perhaps Organic Greens Collective or Cal Green Medical, both in Goleta, are permitted but that barely matters. What will matter is AB 266, if Jerry Brown ever signs, will require duel licensing for dispensaries at both the state and local level. This means unless patients get it together and press their local county board of supervisors and city councils by the time new regulations are supposed to be enacted in 2018, many communities in California, including the Central Coast, will lack any brick and mortar dispensaries.

Currently, the Central Coast is served by hundreds of mobile dispensaries/delivery services. So, will AB 266 allow for delivery services in 2018? Prior to the passage of AB 266 there were a lot of contradictory rumors….delivery services would only be allowed if tied to a permitted brick and mortar storefront dispensary…then…delivery services allowed if specifically permitted by “local jurisdiction”. After AB 266 was passed on September 11th, David Downs wrote in Legalization Nation, “Deliveries allowed”…but not much more detail. The following day mjbizdaily posted an article by John Schroyer stating, “delivery services would be allowed only if directly tied to a dispensary”. Not much clarity for what seems like a simple but significant detail for tens of thousands of patients on the Central Coast and thousands of small business owners throughout California.

Since he is possibly the best connected cannabis journalist in California I emailed David Downs and asked him if delivery services not affiliated with a store-front dispensary would be allowed under the new regulations. He responded that dual permitted delivery services would be allowed, but, “local permit will likely require (services) to locate in a specific city zone (light industrial, away from homes and schools, etc).”

Steve DeAngelo, co-founder of multiple marijuana businesses (Harborside Health Center, the ArcView Group and SteepHill Labratory), was recently featured in a Reddit IamA. I discovered this very late in the session but was able to quickly fire off a few questions, one of which related to new regulations on delivery services. He stated, “Delivery services will have to operate ‘in association’ with a dispensary. Nobody is sure exactly what ‘in association’ means yet. My best guess is that software platforms like Eaze and Meadow will be permitted but stand-alone delivery services will have to merge with a dispensary, or at least have some kind of contract with them.”

Again, not much clarity but it seems much of the new regulations will be detailed in subsequent legislative sessions and/or by the newly created Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation supposedly by 2018. With so many nuances to be flushed out though I doubt this deadline will be met. This delay may provide a modicum of reassurance for local patients but the “local control” component of the regulations makes things tricky. Central Coast communities have a complicated and contradictory relationship with marijuana much like Republicans and prostitution…a secretive embrace followed by a shameful shunning. While many members of these communities seem to readily embrace medical marijuana, most local governments do not have the courage, foresight, or fortitude to permit any cannabis businesses.

When interviewed a couple weeks ago for mjbizdaily, DeAngelo asserted that new California regulations would change the business landscape “quite radically”. While he was most likely commenting on a portion of regulations excluding felons from participating in the industry, the same expression applies to delivery services. If the uncertainty of being excluded from regulations wasn’t enough, now delivery business owners need to worry about being explicitly permitted, trying to develop contracts with established dispensaries, paying for local and state permits, and potentially being required to pay rent and security costs for offices/storage. How’s a small business with an already slim profit margin going to survive?

As Chris Roberts wrote in SF Weekly though, most of the actual rules are not yet written. In the meantime, business will continue as an “unregulated free for all”…at least until 2018.