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San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to halt applications for cannabis retail permits, citing a struggling business environment and saturated marketplace that already threaten the survival of many existing pot shops in the city.
“It’s a pause, not a ban,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who authored the legislation.
Local pot entrepreneurs and their supporters said that businesses are buffeted by challenges in recent years: crushing federal and state taxes, a lack of access to traditional capital.
In San Francisco, they are also dealing with commercial burglaries and a flood of cheap, illegal pot on the unregulated market.
And there are just too many legal weed shops, said Drakari Donaldson, CEO of the California Street Cannabis Co., which operates stores in Inner Richmond and Nob Hill.
“The pie is getting smaller, and there are more players, so there’s a smaller piece of pie for everyone,” Donaldson said. “We simply can’t survive off those numbers.”
The law will go into effect 30 days after the board votes on the measure a second time — expected to take place next week — and Mayor London Breed signs the legislation.
Read full report at
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/s-f-supervisors-halt-cannabis-permits-18138747.php
