Up to 40 new cannabis permits headed for approval in WeHo

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The City of West Hollywood is planning to approve as many as 40 new cannabis permits over the next year, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. That would mean a massive expansion of dispensaries, lounges and other cannabis businesses in the city, which is already on the way to having one of the highest numbers of cannabis businesses per capita in the world.

The news was published in a Times piece profiling the city’s “Emerald Village” cannabis marketing campaign:

When the AIDS epidemic hit in the 1980s, the city opened some of the nation’s first medical marijuana dispensaries. Now West Hollywood is aiming for a new distinction, as a sort of Amsterdam of the far West, fusing California’s recreational weed culture with the city’s own fun and creative vibe.

Home to six dispensaries, the tiny city plans to approve as many as 40 cannabis permits over the next year or so, part of a drive by a group of cannabis operators to promote the city as a global destination for pot tourism under the moniker Emerald Village.

Bolstering the effort is the star power of a handful of A-list investors, including rapper Jay-Z, actors Patricia Arquette and Woody Harrelson, and comedian Bill Maher.

“People who wouldn’t otherwise come to West Hollywood will come for the celebrity factor,” said Scott Schmidt, executive director of the trade group behind the project.

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[…] to 2022 and that two-year lull is ending. Now, a new crop of cannabis consumption lounges is preparing to open around West Hollywood, including some with notable celebrity names attached. There’s even […]

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[…] to 2022 and that two-year lull is ending. Now a new crop of cannabis consumption lounges are preparing to open around West Hollywood, including some with notable celebrity names attached. There’s even […]

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[…] to 2022 and that two-year lull is ending. Now a new crop of cannabis consumption lounges are preparing to open around West Hollywood, including some with notable celebrity names attached. There’s even […]

john
john
2 years ago

I am not against weed. But 40 permits would be excessive. Hopefully only a few would be approved. There doesn’t seem to be a scarcity of them currently.

Christopher Roth
2 years ago

SOMEBODY PLEASE START A PETITION ABOUT THIS!

Christopher Roth
2 years ago

If this is really going to happen, I hope they require these businesses to contain the smell inside of their shops. Sometimes it feels like weed shops are the Mrs. Fields of WEHO. Like they are purposely blowing pot smoke outside of their shops to draw customers in. The whole city is going to smell like skunks. BTW – Amsterdam is scaling back on these districts because locals don’t like the crowd it brings.

C.R.
C.R.
2 years ago

So should we get rid of Mrs fields cookies too then? Try some of the weed and progress in your life. If you don’t like the smell you can use other forms of it.

JESS
JESS
2 years ago
Reply to  C.R.

THC has no smell.

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
2 years ago
Reply to  C.R.

If you need pot to progress in your life, you really shouldn’t be giving anyone advice.

C.R.
C.R.
2 years ago
Reply to  Rodrigo

You clearly know nothing about the health benefits of cannabis. I suggest you do some research before anointing yourself as a critic.

No Stinking Benefits
No Stinking Benefits
2 years ago
Reply to  C.R.

Although you may cite and be convinced about the “benefits of cannabis” you might be ignorant of or overlooking the 3,500 year benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine which affords one solutions to their issues not in the form of a crutch.

Christopher Roth
2 years ago
Reply to  C.R.

I have C.R. thank you for suggesting that I should progress in my life. I’m sure you know that once you light up there is smoke and odor much like cigarettes, This smoke contains carcinogenic combustion products, including about 50% more benzoprene and 75% more benzanthracene (and more phenols, vinyl chlorides, nitrosamines, reactive oxygen species) than cigarette smoke. I think it is only fair that as a person with asthma I shouldn’t have to smell this in my home or when I am out in my neighborhood in a public space. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t exist, I am… Read more »

Mike
Mike
2 years ago

I love it. Weed-Ho

Potville
Potville
2 years ago
Reply to  Mike

That’s even better than Potville.

DesertBob
DesertBob
2 years ago
Reply to  Potville

WeHo’s been going to pot for 35 years.

Manny
Manny
2 years ago

Do people really smoke and or eat that much pot?!

C.R.
C.R.
2 years ago

I love everything about it, yes to it all! Looking forward to the future of the Emerald Village. Now all we need to do is get back to work on extending the last call in the bars, as we were working towards before covid.

Rudi Logan
Rudi Logan
2 years ago

Maybe, instead of permitting 40 head shops (which seems excessive for such a small geographic area), West Hollywood might consider re-installing the bus benches that are being removed along Santa Monica Blvd. I don’t know whether the city or Metro is responsible for this decision — probably to prevent homeless people from sleeping on them — but it’s certainly inconvenient for seniors and others who have nowhere to rest while waiting for the No.4. Maybe with the profits from the head shops, the city could provide more comfortable bus seats like the ones in Santa Monica.

GET A BROOM
GET A BROOM
2 years ago
Reply to  Joshua88

Many of these landscape folks should get acquainted with brooms and rakes which avoid robbing the soil of its nutrients blown to smithereens and keep moisture in whatever soil remains.

JF1
JF1
2 years ago
Reply to  Joshua88

what does this have to do with cannabis licenses in weho?

Joshua88
Joshua88
2 years ago

$2.2mn in taxes, not $2.1.