A guide on where to buy weed in the Valley. Hint: You’re out of luck in Fresno
Despite voters agreeing that anyone older than 21 gets to make up their own mind about consuming cannabis, many Central San Joaquin Valley leaders have decided they can’t buy it locally.
The fifth-largest city in the state at more than a half-million people, Fresno is something of a weed desert. People who live in Fresno are about as far away from a legally approved dispensary as any California resident can be.
Most of the 15 incorporated cities in Fresno County have put the kibosh on marijuana businesses of any kind. As far as the state will allow anyway.
Adults in California have been able to freely use cannabis since Jan. 1, 2018. A quick look at a pot shop-tracking website shows many dispensaries clustered in the Bay Area, Southern California and even Modesto. The rest of the Valley’s options are sparse.
As the calendar rolls into 2020, what exactly are the options in the Valley.
Fresno
The City Council has twice approved regulations that would allow dispensaries in each of the city’s seven districts. The regulations have changed in the past two years, but dispensaries are still on the docket.
But it’s been a slow-moving process. Some elected officials have said residents will be lucky if any shops open by the second half of the year.
So Fresnans are looking at least an hour drive to be able to walk into an authorized weed shop.
Open for business
The city of Coalinga has a dispensary, Have a Heart, selling recreational cannabis for adults.
The town of 16,000 is the only option for a dispensary in Fresno County officially operating. A search through the dispensary tracker Weedmaps.com shows other locations selling medical cannabis despite the city of Fresno not yet officially distributing permits.
Firebaugh, Parlier and Mendota have carved out allowances for dispensaries and other marijuana industries. No brick-and-mortar dispensaries are operating in those communities, which are each made up of a populations of 15,000 or fewer.
Outright bans
Clovis, Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Orange Cove, Reedley, Sanger, San Joaquin and Selma don’t allow dispensaries or any other kind of commercial cannabis business. There are some exemptions related to medical users.
No cannabis licenses have been issued in Madera County, according to the state Bureau of Cannabis Control records.
A number of the cities have language in their ordinances that bans marijuana delivery, but state law supersedes that to allow deliveries because drivers are using public roadways. Two dozen cities, including Clovis, and a county are suing to try to overturn that.
Farther flung dispensaries
The next closest dispensaries to Fresno County can be found in 8,000-resident city of Woodlake in Tulare County. Valley Pure has locations there and in neighboring Farmersville.
Merced, a town of about 90,000 in Merced County, has Blue Fire and Infinity selling cannabis to adults. Right next door, Atwater, which has about 30,000 residents, has two dispensaries — Bang Mingo and Medallion Wellness.
Stanislaus County has about 20 dispensaries.
Fresno is at least several months from having dispensaries. In the meantime, anyone is allowed to grow at least six plants at home.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 1:27 PM.
