By Shelby Huffaker, MPH | Chair, San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access
A recent report released by the San Diego County Grand Jury, as described in the Union Tribune article: San Diego police, sheriff should jointly crack down on illegal cannabis market, grand jury says, includes recommendations that the San Diego Police and Sheriff’s Departments take greater efforts to crack down on the illicit cannabis and hemp market, citing concerns about the continued proliferation of such entities in the region.
Make no mistake: shopping from the illicit market raises significant concerns, particularly for medical cannabis patients, as products may contain harmful substances like pesticides, heavy metals, and mold. They may misstate potency levels, compromising safety and efficacy. And, without age-checking requirements or packaging restrictions, these products could make it into the hands of teens and adolescents.
However, the recommendation to meet this public health issue with increased law enforcement is misguided and may promote additional unintended harms.
As of March 2024, the City of San Diego had 36 permitted cannabis retail outlets, translating to one licensed retail outlet for every 38,000 residents in a population of 1.4 million. This figure is more than double the number recommended by California Assemblymember Phil Ting in a bill aimed at fostering competition with the illicit market, indicating high unmet need. Furthermore, a survey conducted by the California Department of Cannabis Control found that 88% of adult cannabis consumers in California prefer to purchase from legal sources, yet only 20% of cannabis sales in San Diego are conducted through regulated channels. The takeaway is that there is an insufficient number of licensed cannabis retail outlets in the City to meet consumers’ demand for regulated products.
The obvious answer to the question of how to address the illicit market is to encourage more unlicensed operators to enter the legal market. The City of San Diego’s proposed Cannabis Social Equity and Economic Development (SEED) plan would aim to do just that. Results from the City’s Cannabis Social Equity Assessment, the foundation upon which the SEED plan was built, found that would-be applicants face numerous barriers to starting a cannabis business, including lack of access to capital, business, regulatory, and technical expertise, prior cannabis convictions, and retail caps.
The report also found that in 2021, 68% of cannabis license holders in San Diego were white, despite constituting 44% of the population. Eighty seven percent of license holders were men. While a small few are profiting off of the cannabis retail monopoly in San Diego, populations disproportionately impacted by decades of cannabis criminalization are still being shut out of the licensed cannabis market due to the high barriers to entry.
In sum, further criminalizing cannabis would be a waste of taxpayer resources and will continue to harm cannabis consumers, patients, and the public at-large. It will do nothing to ameliorate the injustices caused by the failed War on Drugs, which have and continue to fall disproportionately upon people of color. Instead of continuing a decades-long legacy of increasing criminalization directed towards the most marginalized, we have the opportunity to implement more creative, humane, and cost-saving interventions that uplift the health and dignity of all.
