Only eight dispensaries in San Diego so far

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It’s been more than two years since San Diego’s City Council approved restrictive medical cannabis dispensary regulations that were aimed at setting up 36 storefronts in the city.

But roughly 29 months later a mere eight licensed dispensaries are up and running, far short of the number city officials pledged would be operational, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Simultaneously, illegal dispensaries have proliferated, the paper reported, with demand for MMJ keeping unlicensed storefronts in business since the small number of legal dispensaries simply can’t satisfy the number of customers in the city.

That situation will probably become even more complicated if California voters approve Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, to legalize recreational marijuana, in November. If that happens, the Union Tribune reported, the city will be faced with a quandary of how to regulate adult-use sales if there are only eight legal cannabis retailers in the entire metropolis.

Current regulations technically allow for four dispensaries per city council district, for a total of 36, according to the paper. The number was then sliced down to between 12-17, due to red tape and zoning issues. Other reasons also have factored into more dispensaries not opening.