San Jose, California and state lawmakers are urging Santa Clara County public health officials to allow in-person recreational cannabis sales after they were shut down last week in favor of delivery-only options, the Mercury News reports.
In a letter to county Public Health Officer Sara Cody, San Jose council members Pam Foley, Magdalena Carrasco, and Maya Esparza requested that the agency “reconsider only allowing medicinal cannabis to be purchased within a store, curbside, or by delivery.”
“Today, a resident can walk out of a grocery store with a bottle of Tylenol, but that same person is unable to pull up curbside for pain relief from CBD oil. These individuals in need of relief should not be denied safe access to cannabis during this critical time.” – Foley, Carrasco, and Esparza in the letter, via the News
State lawmakers Assemblyman Ash Kalra and Senator Jim Beall also wrote a letter to county officials, pointing out that the order “has unintentionally led to confusion and places additional requirements on already thinly deployed law enforcement and licensing enforcement personnel.”
Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams told the News that the order aligns with the county’s overall goal of reducing the gathering of groups.
“Of note, many letters note the large numbers of people who may be seeking in-person access to dispensaries,” Williams said in an email to the News. “Even for essential services, everyone is strongly urged to stay at home as much as possible and to reduce and consolidate trips in order to minimize contacts to the greatest degree possible.”
Kalra and Beall echoed the sentiments of San Jose Police Department Cannabis Division Manager Wendy Sollazzi that shutting down in-person recreational cannabis sales would just move consumers into the illicit market.
Williams argues that the order doesn’t require medical cannabis customers to, necessarily, have a medical cannabis card but that some law enforcement agencies are choosing to use the card “as a proxy” for whether the person is seeking cannabis for medical purposes.
Santa Clara County’s stay-at-home order is in effect until May 3.
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