Sacramento city council members favor cannabis consumption lounges in pilot program

Three of four members of the Sacramento City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee say they favor allowing cannabis consumption lounges to open as part of a pilot program, paving the way for the full council to consider the issue.

Committee Chairwoman Katie Valenzuela said she expects a formal committee resolution on the matter by early 2024 which would then go to the full nine-member council.

The issue of consumption lounges – where patrons can use cannabis on-site legally – has been stalled for more than a year after opposition by former councilman Jay Schenirer, who was chairman of the committee.

Valenzuela a vocal supporter of consumption lounges, saw her plan for the lounges die in May 2022. She has gone from a member of the committee to its chairwoman.

“We have a common enemy, which is the illicit market,” Valenzuela told an audience of mostly cannabis supporters Tuesday afternoon. She argued that creating a safe space for legal cannabis consumption would help support the legalized market.

Questions remain

Even if the plan does get approved by the City Council, big questions remain.

A key one is, which dispensary owners would be eligible to open a lounge?

Valenzuela and the other two supporters of the consumption lounge plan, Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan and Councilman Rick Jennings, want participants in the city’s core equity dispensary program to be given preference.

The city granted 10 dispensary licenses to victims of the war on drugs in April 2021, but only two of the core dispensaries have opened so far. Other applicants may be forced to return their licenses if they can’t open by the April 2024 deadline.

In addition, Leyne Milstein, an assistant city manager, told the committee that under city and state rules, the consumption lounges must be attached to a dispensary.

With the space of many of the core dispensaries tightly configured, this leaves open the question of whether the core dispensaries would even have space to offer the consumption lounge.

In addition to the 10 core dispensary licenses granted by the city, 30 other licensed dispensaries in Sacramento date back to the 1990s and the days of medical marijuana.

But council members were clear they don’t want to let the medical marijuana owners get a piece of the consumption lounge financial pie, at least initially.

Kaplansaid the consumption lounge plan was about “supporting small businesses,” not about the dispensary owners who have “made millions” from their participation in selling cannabis under the medical marijuana rules.

Lone dissent

Councilman Eric Guerra, the sole opponent on the committee, said his concerns stem from particulate matter entering people’s lungs in consumption lounges.

He cited a 2021 University of California, San Franciscostudy that found in one dispensary particulate matter was 28 times higher during working hours than when the business was closed.

“I am concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke,” he said.

Valenzuela promised to bring health experts to the council to discuss secondhand smoke before passing an ordinance allowing cannabis lounges.

She and Kaplan and Jenningspitched the consumption lounges also as an answer to the question of where to smoke legally in Sacramento.

Even though recreational cannabis has been legal since voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, Kaplan noted that finding a place in Sacramento to smoke cannabis is difficult if you don’t own a home. Most rental communities prohibit any type of smoking.

“How it is fair that you own a home you get the privilege but our apartment dwellers don’t, especially in this day and age when everyone can’t afford a house,” she said.

Kaplansaid some dispensary customers, after buying from a dispensary, end up smoking in their vehicle, which is illegal.

Committee members also discussed expanding the number of locations in Sacramento that can hold public events at which cannabis can be sold.

Currently, the only location that cannabis events can be held at is at Cal Expo, and the last such event held on the fairgrounds was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the council members agreed to focus first on consumption lounges.

Jenningssaid the city would have “a lot more control over the lounges rather than the events.”

City of Sacramento officials have toured consumption lounges in communities that allow them, including San Francisco, Oakland, West Hollywood, Palm Springs and Coachella.

Davina Smith, the city’s cannabis manager, filed a report giving physical descriptions of each of the cannabis lounges, detailing whether the consumption lounges were separated from the on-site dispensaries and whether they reeked of smoke.

The physical layouts varied. Although the results weren’t scientific, city officials found odors in some of the lounge; in others they didn’t.

Several dozen cannabis business owners spoke in favor of the consumption lounge plan Tuesday, including delivery service owners who urged that the consumption plan be expanded to their businesses.

Milstein said governmental rules wouldn’t allow that.

Health concerns cited

One opponent to the consumption plan is Jim Keddy, executive director of advocacy organization Youth Forward.

Keddy told the council that health issues revolving around cannabis are being ignored.

“As a council you are responsible not only for furthering economic development but for the larger welfare of the city, “ he said.

Keddy said cannabis lounges are another step forward in “renormalizing” smoking.

He also brought to the council the issue of a night market fair on the R Street corridor the evening of Sept. 9 in which he stated that cannabis businesses illegally handed out samples of their product.

Valenzuelasaid the city is aware of the event, did not condone it, and has begun a formal investigation. She did not offer any other details at the city council meeting.

Guerra said the police department, code enforcement and the city Office of Cannabis Management are all involved in the investigation.

Guerra,who was at the ticketed event, said children were allowed to attend. He said the cannabis companies involved and the organizers of the night market could face fines and be barred from future events.

The event called the “Our Street Night Market” was sponsored by a company called , Yellow Brick Group, according to the website.

Company officials did not return requests for comment.