San Francisco Will Issue Cannabis Smoking Permits for Events

The city of San Francisco will implement a system to permit cannabis smoking at events within city limits, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved legislation introduced by city Supervisor Rafael Mandelman that enables regulators to issue permits to events allowing for the on-site sale and consumption of cannabis. State legislation enabled cities and other local governments to opt-in to allowing event cannabis sales and consumption starting January 1, 2019.

The only opposition to the city’s new permitting legislation came from those concerned not by cannabis but by the act of public smoking of both cannabis and tobacco. The Board of Supervisors, however, passed the rules in a 9-2 vote.

“What we are recognizing here is that there are events, and have been for time immemorial, where people have been smoking cannabis. This is a public health life and safety issue. We want to have these events to be legal, permitted, safe.” — City Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, via the San Francisco Examiner

At first, the cannabis permits will only be available to events that have occurred previously with unpermitted cannabis smoking, including Outside Lands, Hardly Strictly, 420 celebrations, How Weird, Clusterfest, Carnaval, and Pride.

Unfortunately, the permits will not yet be available by this year’s April 20 celebrations. Representatives of the city have cautioned this year’s attendees to not purchase cannabis from in or near the celebration on Hippie Hill in the city, but rather from licensed dispensaries beforehand. Last year, there were reports of the illegal sale of cannabis-laced with fentanyl, which hospitalized many San Franciscans.