Berkeley Patients Group

Cannabis dispensaries around the city of Berkeley are remaining open during the mandated "shelter in place" period, albeit some with limited hours and restrictions on customers.

Berkeley’s oldest medical cannabis dispensary, Berkeley Patients Group, or BPG, is moving to a new location on University Avenue. Throughout its 20-year history, BPG has faced multiple threats of asset forfeiture from the federal government that ultimately drove the dispensary from its original location.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, Berkeley City Council unanimously passed revisions to five of the city’s existing ordinances related to the cannabis industry and further discussed options for a proposal allowing safe overnight parking of recreational vehicles at designated city lots.

The council will evaluate the Pathways STAIR Navigation Center’s first six weeks of operation after its opening in June 2018. It is set to review a Berkeley Health, Housing and Community Services, or HHCS, staff report that compiled data “on existing program metrics” and included five interview responses from center clients.

Marijuana enforcement has never been high on Berkeley’s priority list, but now City Council will discuss a resolution to make Berkeley a sanctuary city.

The city of Berkeley currently taxes medical and recreational marijuana sales by 2.5 percent and 10 percent, respectively, which was strongly protested by many Berkeley cannabis business owners at a Cannabis Commission meeting Thursday.

Four days after the recreational sale of cannabis became legal in California, Attorney General Jeff Sessions lifted an Obama-era policy that allowed states to legalize marijuana with minimal federal interference.

In a city with a history of advocacy for marijuana legalization and decriminalization, the pre-dawn ribbon-cutting ceremony at Berkeley Patients Group was a victory celebration of what has been decades of activism and lobbying efforts by many in the community.

Berkeley's been blazing a trail for legalized cannabis use for decades, and now — with the passage of Proposition 64 last year — residents will soon be able to buy and use marijuana recreationally in the city.

Berkeley Patients Group, one of the first California dispensaries to receive its retail license for adult-use marijuana, will open its doors Monday.