Over the past few weeks, a number of northern California local jurisdictions have taken steps to expand and strengthen the regulated cannabis markets operating within the boundaries of these cities and counties. Last month, the Petaluma City Council voted 6-0 to allow up to three new cannabis storefronts within city limits, expanding retail access within Petaluma from the delivery-only cannabis retail status quo. The City of Modesto recently launched a program to support residents, who have been arrested or convicted of cannabis-related crimes, in starting their own cannabis businesses, and Mendocino County reported last week that it has caught up on processing provisional cultivation permit applications. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office has executed seven search warrants and destroyed 9,907 illegal plants in the past few weeks, which followed last month’s City of Mountain View Police raid on two smoke shops allegedly engaged in illegal cannabis sales. Over 70% of the California counties that experienced year-over-year growth in their regulated sales as of Q1 2024 (vis-à-vis Q1 2023) are located in northern California (e.g., Lake County, El Dorado County, and Monterey County), and half of the California cities that experienced year-over-year growth in their regulated sales as of Q1 2024 (vis-à-vis Q1 2023) are located in northern California (e.g., Crescent City, the City of Alameda and the City of Stockton). The northern California local jurisdictions that have recently taken steps to increase cannabis retail access, support social equity entrepreneurship, complete application processing, and enforce the law against the unregulated market, are poised to increase their own regulated cannabis sales figures in the coming months.
