They're the OGs of West Hollywood cannabis — dispensaries that have served the city for as long as 15 years. And on Monday, the City Council extended its respect and appreciation by allowing them to stay in business indefinitely.
The West Hollywood City Council Monday approved the extension of recreational cannabis licenses for the city’s four original dispensaries in a 4-1 vote. Employees from MedMen and the other three original dispensaries say they have built most of their client base selling recreational marijuana using temporary licenses issued last year. But after not being awarded permanent licenses through a competitive process, the dispensaries took their fight to city council.
The vote came as a huge relief to businesses like Alternative Herbal Health Services, which calls itself the oldest continuously operating pot shop south of San Francisco. Before Monday’s decision, there was much consternation over whether the city’s original dispensaries, after failing to obtain recreational cannabis licenses (there are only eight available spots), would be forced to shut down.
“The [federal] government has never been able to close us down ... yet a local ordinance passed by a city that had invited us here, and appreciates the work that we’ve done for the community, could possibly jeopardize our livelihood,” Alternative Herbal Health Services’ owner Jason Beck previously told the Los Angeles Times.
For the foreseeable future, that’s no longer a worry.