San Francisco’s 24 city-licensed dispensaries generated just 10 citizen complaints last year, most of them for relatively minor issues such as double-parking.
Other complaints centered around strong cannabis odors and an illuminated sign (which the dispensary owner simply turned off), according to SF Weekly. One even involved a suspect marijuana brownie that was sent to a crime lab but came back clean.
The figure doesn’t include dispensary-related crimes, and there were two relatively high-profile ones in or outside MMJ centers in 2013 – including an armed robbery.
But the relatively low number of citizen complaints shows that dispensaries aren’t a public nuisance as some MMJ opponents claim, especially in areas with cannabis business regulations.
California doesn’t have statewide rules on dispensaries, but San Francisco requires cannabis centers to receive city permits and meet some basic requirements. Owners, for instance, must pass a background check, submit details on their security plans and obtain certification as a food handler if they’re going to make edibles.
