(Customers examine marijuana buds at a vendor booth during Dreamsesh in April at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. File photo by Todd Guild/Pajaronian)
SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to allow up to four marijuana-based events at the county fairgrounds, along with a sizable framework of regulations governing the events.
The board also unanimously approved rules that regulate marijuana delivery services, and signs on cannabis dispensaries.
The new regulations on marijuana events came after organizers for Dreamsesh — which was held in April at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds — ran the event without authorization or knowledge of the county’s Cannabis Licensing Office (CLO), according Cannabis Licensing Manager Robin Bolster-Grant.
Thousands of people attended Dreamsesh, browsing among tables piled high with marijuana for sale, along with paraphernalia, food and other cannabis-related products.
Many also sampled the goods, filling the J.J. Crosetti Building with hazy smoke.
But the event was not authorized.
County regulators learned about it after reading an article in this newspaper, according to county documents.
In that story, an attendee said that vendors were not required to pay local cannabis business taxes.
Other attendees complained about lax security, the county documents stated.
After the event, the CLO contacted fairgrounds administrators to begin talks about future events.
Under the new regulations, organizers and vendors must be licensed by the California State Bureau of Cannabis Control. In addition, vendors must have a California Sales Tax Permit, and pay taxes to the county that result from the event.
Anyone selling food products must be permitted by the Santa Cruz County Office of Environmental Health.
The new regulations also require organizers to contact local dispensaries, and to give them “prime booth locations” at the events.
Weapons are prohibited at the events, and attendees are required to pass through security checkpoints.
Anyone wishing to smoke at the events must do so outside.
Pat Malo of Greentrade Santa Cruz praised the new regulations, and said the events could be a “lifesaver” for local cannabis businesses hoping to promote their products.
“I went to the (Dreamsesh) event that happened under your noises and I was really disgusted,” he said.
Supervisor Greg Caput said he approved of the events at the fairgrounds, but said he did not want them to come at the expense of other events there.
“What I don’t want to see is this becoming a cash cow where it affects everything and becomes a priority,” he said.
Santa Cruz County Fair Board of Directors Vice President Don Dietrich told the supervisors that the fair generates about 60 percent of the annual revenue.
The rest, he said, comes from rental fees from about 400 events every year such as quinceañeras and weddings.
“We do have to generate our own revenue to keep the facility open,” he said. “And there are a lot of people who rely on us to do that.”
The supervisors also tightened up county regulations governing cannabis delivery services.
County regulations already state that only licensed dispensaries may deliver marijuana products to their customers.
The new regulation makes it illegal for anyone without a license to make deliveries.
Violators face a $2,500 fine for the first violation and a $5,000 fine for a second violation within one year. A third violation within a year brings a hefty $7,500 fine.
The discussion on Tuesday stemmed from reports by several local dispensaries of a “significant increase” in unlicensed entities offering delivery services.
The supervisors also approved regulations that essentially follow state regulations regarding signage at dispensaries, which state that they cannot market to minors.
