In February, Napa City Council voted unanimously to include Napa’s cannabis-selling ordinance on a list of six policy objectives to prioritize for 2021, according to Councilmember Beth Painter.
“We turn away at least 10 people a day that come in for recreational ,” Malan said.
Organic foot traffic is not a business model Napa’s dispensaries rely on, in part because their respective locations do not foster much of it.
Typically, patrons at Harvest House of Cannabis, located on Second Street west of downtown, are those who have sought the dispensary out, according to CEO Steve White.
Harvest, which opened as Napa’s first dispensary at the end of 2018, was drawn to Napa in part because of the lack of competition, CEO White said.
Recreational cannabis use was legalized in California in 2016 by Proposition 64.
What concerns White is the related zoning issue: Harvest will stay where it is, tucked into an industrial-zoned area, even if suddenly dispensaries are allowed to operate front and center in the areas of downtown zoned for retail or mixed-use.
Reform may be a two-step process, Painter added: council may first discuss allowing recreational sales for existing businesses and then take a larger look at zoning districts and existing facilities.
Harvest, which is a medicinal marijuana dispensary, is the first dispensary of cannabis products of any kind in Napa County.
A variety of the pre-roll cannabis available at Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., the first marijuana dispensary of cannabis products of any kind in Napa County.