Stockton cannabis dispensaries could stay open later under potential new rule

Stockton dispensaries may get three more business hours daily under a proposal sent to the city council last week.

“We are losing revenue every single day to other cities,” Lisa Young-Wilhoitte, an executive at Connected Cannabis Co., recently told the council’s Legislation and Environmental Committee.

Sellers are asking the council to extend dispensaries’ allowed hours from 6 a.m. through 10 p.m., in line with what California law permits, committee documents show. City code currently lets dispensaries operate from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In 2016, California voters passed the state's adult-use cannabis law, and Stockton voters repealed a ban on medical dispensaries within the city that same year. Several dispensaries have opened across Stockton since.

Yet many cannabis shops outside Stockton have a leg up on local dispensaries because they’re allowed to operate longer than 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Young-Wilhoitte said.

The committee — which includes District 3 Councilmember Michael Blower, District 4 Councilmember Susan Lenz, and District 6 Councilmember Kimberly Warmsley — agreed to send the proposal for longer hours to the full council for a vote.

“It does seem like it would put our dispensaries we have here at a competitive disadvantage,” Blower said.

It’s not yet clear what day the council will consider the proposal. The council could pass the proposal as-is, add minor amendments or send it back to the Legislation Committee for review.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton cannabis dispensaries could stay open later under potential new rule