Our City Council appears poised to allow the zoning of cannabis retail outlets in Benicia.
The thinking appears to be—really, what is the difference if someone wants to have a smoke rather than a beer? And, of course, why not embrace cannabis and garner those tax dollars?
My concerns about the sale of cannabis are several. In particular, I do not believe the product has sufficiently left behind its perhaps less than stellar reputation which, even if that reputation is unfair, can scare people away from cannabis shops. Consequently, if such shops are placed in our downtown, people who might otherwise visit, could choose to avoid the area.
While researching the new cannabis laws, however, I discovered a serious—in my view–potential danger of cannabis sales that appears to have been overlooked in all the cheerleading over State legality: the growing presence of cannabis edibles.
Commercial edibles are particularly disturbing because they are so new that, not only are the long term impacts of their availability virtually unknown, often they are not even included in the conversation. On Oct. 9, for example, Mayor Patterson sent out a thoughtful and informative E-Alert discussing cannabis in Benicia. Included as part of this message were emails from various residents. While I agree with much that was stated in that E-Alert and the included emails, I found no mention of edibles, specifically, and the unique dangers they can present.
The sale of edibles broadens the user group from those wishing the occasional smoke to those who enjoy cookies, candies and sodas—a much larger group. Unlike smokers and drinkers, everyone in this group will experience a delay in feeling the affects of ingestion, which can lead to overconsumption. Further this group has the potential of including unintentional users including children.
Taking the advice of Councilman Schwartzman– as reported in an article in the Benicia Herald– I have read “Marijuana Goes Main Street” by Bruce Barcott. This book was quite informative and I thank Councilman Schwartzman for suggesting it. Much of my information on edibles comes from this book.
From the information I have obtained, it appears there are at least four main types of cannabis ingestion. The first is smoking/vaping the product. The second is via edibles; the third is a tincture placed under the tongue and the forth would be in pill form.
When smoking cannabis, its affects manifest quite quickly. Therefore, the smoker can tell relatively easily how much he has ingested and the affect it will have on him making it easier to know when to stop ingesting. This effect is known as self–titration and also happens with alcohol consumption. Self-titration is particularly important today since the THC in pot has risen from 2 to 3 percent in the 1970’s to 18 to 22 percent today.i
The second type of cannabis ingestion is via the consumption of edibles. In addition to their tasty nature edibles have become popular because some people would rather not smoke. It should be noted here, however, that if edibles are not available, there are the third and fourth ways to ingest—as a tincture placed under the tongueii or in pill form.iii
Commercial cannabis edibles are fascinating products. Because they have only recently come into existence and, therefore, into our consciousness, however, their impact on us as a society has not yet been fully realized.
Edibles can be in many forms—homemade brownies are oh so yesterday. From cakes, cookies, shakes, small candies and candy bars to sodas as described in “Marijuana Goes Main Street.” The growing importance, and variety of, edibles is further illustrated in material distributed by Mayor Patterson during her report at the Oct. 3 Council meeting about her recent trip to Denver. That material includes a page on “The Green Solution,” a “Marijuana Infused Product Center.” The Green Solution has “a full edibles kitchen with automated systems for carbonated drink, hard candies, chocolates, gummies, caramels, truffles and baked goods production.”iv
With edibles, THC levels can increase to phenomenal levels. While the state of Colorado, for example, considered a “serving size” to contain 10 milligrams of THC, a single cookie—if packaged individually—could contain 100 milligrams, the maximum allowable in a single package. And, as author Barcott says: “Who looks at a single cookie and thinks, Ten servings? Nobody, that’s who.”v
A related problem is that even if a box of cookies, or a bag of candies, contained the 100 milligrams maximum, it can be easy to eat several cookies or small candies at a single sitting. Couple this with the fact that the eater may be trying to get pain relief, or high, and not be feeling any affect so may be tempted to keep eating. Unlike smoked cannabis, edibles do not impact an individual until they are digested—perhaps thirty or forty-five minutes after they are ingested. Consequently the self-titration that occurs with pot-smoking and alcohol drinking does not occur as quickly. Therefore, a person could keep eating, waiting for a high, until they have consumed dangerous levels of THC.
I will continue this discussion in Part II of this column.
i. Barcott, Bruce Marijuana Goes Main Street, Special Time Edition (2017) p. 81.
ii. Marijuana Goes Main Street p. 83.
iii. “Denver Here We Come!” Rail-Volution Conference in Denver September 17-20, presented by Mayor Elizabeth Patterson at the October 3 Benicia City Council meeting, p. 20.
iv. “The Green Solution Marijuana Infused Product Center” in “Denver Here We Come!” p. 12.
v. Marijuana Goes Main Street, p. 81.
Donnell Rubay is a Benicia resident. She has a degree in economics from the University of California-Berkeley.
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You are correct.
Since I started cheerleading for cannabis in Benicia, I have included information about methods of ingestion, as well as the response times to edibles.. I have advocated starting with low dosage of 10mg THC or less, and waiting at least an hour if you are unfamiliar with the response to cannabis consumption. Yes, I am the Head Cheerleader for cannabis in Benicia. Edibles are not new. Modern extraction technologies have broadened the range of products available because a measured concentrate of cannabis resins can be added to the product in its preparation stage, where it becomes homogeneous and simple math can determine CBD:THC per serving.
“With edibles, THC levels can increase to phenomenal levels.” Only if you eat half a package or more. Consumers are learning quickly about edible consumption, and the consequences of over-consumption, none of them involving death by edibles. Cannabis is non-toxic. It cannot shut down vital body functions as alcohol and opioids do. Calls to Colorado poison control and emergency room visits tied to cannabis edible over-titration have gone down as consumers get smarter about edibles. California rules will strictly control dosage per package, leaning to the conservative side.
What is a dangerous level of ingested THC? And what is the danger other than you end up with a possible bellyache and disoriented feeling that wears off? A fifth route of delivery is in suppositories, with incredibly high daily THC dosage that is inhibiting and shrinking tumor growth.
Yes, not only are Mayor Patterson, Vice-Mayor Young, and Councilman Schwartzman poised, they are up on the bow wave of the emerging regulated and financially lucrative cannabusiness in this state, not to mention respecting the will of the majority voters in this community.
Vice Mayor Young may be against edibles. Ask him.
This is really old news. Any self- respecting pothead knows all this. If a dispensary scares some yuppie tourists away, good riddance. As far as more access for kids, they already have better stuff than we do.
This is a moot point.
It appears you do not care about the kids.. Many do.
Bob, Have to disagree with you comment. Maybe, just maybe Hem-Onc cares more about the kids than you do. After all, as an unregulated substance lord only knows what chemical, insecticides, herbicides, etc are being used by the illegal growing of cannabis. One thing is certain. The kids already know where to buy it, they just don’t know what is in it. If it is regulated and sold in stores where the process of growing it has now fallen back into the mainstream the chemical etc will not be used thereby protecting the kids.
Sorry John I do care about the kids as demonstrated at the Planning Commission meeting last night. The glory of Stan is over. It will not be on First Street. More than likely the lower Arsenal. We shall see.
Excellent comments, John. It was easy for me to acquire cannabis over 50 years ago and it is even easier for the youth of today. It surprises me to hear community members express a fear that introduction of regulated cannabis in our town would at the same time open the door to youth access, or make it easier for them to acquire. Dark market cannabis is where the danger lurks in the form of residual pesticides and solvents. Local regulation would at minimum reduce the potential for Benicia consumers to poison themselves with uncertified product.
When cigarettes are harder to buy because to do so requires both money and Identification whereas cannabis requires only money, something needs to change. Like I said previously I did not vote for this version for legalization since I thought it was very flawed. However, now that it is legal we need to respect the will of the voters and come up with a way to implement legal cannabis. Parents who think this is going to lead to the ruin of their children need to understand that their children already know who to see and where to go to get cannabis. Putting it in stores will take away the secrecy of it and it will lose some of the forbidden fruit sensation that goes along with that.
Seeing some great comments here (from John and Stan).
Two of the biggest fears touted by prohibitionists/not prohibitionists are increased youth access and crime around dispensaries. Neither of these fears are supported by data from across the nation. The new fear expressed recently is “normalization” of cannabis in society and in our town. That’s great as far as I am concerned. Hats off to Commissioner Kerridge for taking the big step of coming into the light publicly as a cannabis consumer, and for pointing out that alcohol, tobacco, and opioids are dispensed at Southampton Center and two other retail outlets in town, both in prime commercial locations. A speaker from the education community at the recent PC meeting advocated for a 1600 foot exclusion zone from Benicia Middle School, not 600 or 1000 feet, for dispensary locations. One fellow following him pleaded with the Commission to adopt a preference for the 1600 foot standoff, because 1000 feet would still leave half of SC available for potential cannabis retail. I believe the intent of the speakers advocating 1600 feet was to wipe out all of Southampton Center, but it doesn’t. There are still retail locations beyond 1600 feet. You have to go out 1900 feet to capture all of SC.
All this distance debate is based on embedded biases and emotions formed of ignorance. As I mentioned previously, the only dispensary in Marin County, in Fairfax, is just FIFTY feet from a Little League field, and the community of Fairfax has embraced it since 1996.
The dispensary in Fairfax is in their downtown as well, because that’s where the tourists go. I guarantee there will be traffic and parking i$$ue$ around this location when they get their “A” license. We have people blowing trumpets for a robust Fir$t $treet corridor, but now throwing out traffic and parking issues, among other things, to fend off dispensaries,
Stan I would be very surprised if there is a dispensary on First Street. Stan you have always touted Medical Cannabis and now you are touting Recreational Cannabis. Which is it Stan”? Do you know.
John it is changing. You will have to be 21 at a legal Recreational Dispensary to buy cannabis. They are now looking at eatables and the packaging for Recreational Cannabis. Things are changing in Benicia on dispensaries and location. Maybe only one and it will not be on First Street. The youth have always been able to get alcohol, cigarettes and cannabis. This is not new. Talk to the educators about the youth issue. You may change your mind. It has always been about parenting not availability.
Bob, I understand that it is changing. My point was that cannabis has been easier to buy when compared to cigarettes. I just happen to believe that now that the people of Benicia have spoken in favor of legalization it should not be shoved into a dark corner somewhere in the industrial park. Put it out in the open. First Street – absolutely. Raley’s – yes. This 500′ limit we have on cigarettes, alcohol, etc is a joke. I can get both across the street from Semple. I can get both across the street from City Park downtown. I can get a drink across the street from Marina Green. Oh yeah, I can get both at Raley’s too. I GUARANTEE you I can get a beer at Community Park on a weekend or at any other park where someone is having a BBQ. This limit of 500′ etc is one of those rules that is intended to make people feel better without actually accomplishing a thing. I despise make you feel good rules since there is absolutely no proof that they do anything. If we want to make it 500′ or 1,600′ or whatever, then make it across the board. No booze at Safeway, Raley’s. Valero on E. 2nd Street, Rose Market, CVS, and I could go on and on.
Babies, toddlers, children, and teens are just a few feet from powerful killer opioid drugs being sold at Raley’s, Rite Aid, and CVS, although CVS Health has instituted a new policy to combat opioid overdose deaths surging in our nation. 65,000 dearly departed last year and rising fast.
https://tinyurl.com/yb7n56p2
What’s next Stan automobiles”?
To their credit, Raley’s stopped selling tobacco products about two years ago. We should ban tobacco products sales city-wide.
“the evidence against tobacco usage is simply too strong to ignore.” – Raley’s
I used to take my aluminum cans to the place behind Raley’s. They used to pay cash, but now you have to go to the tobacco shop adjacent to Raley’s to cash in a voucher. Big cigarette ads, combustion inhalation products galore, and other stuff. Jan takes our aluminum cans to Valcore in Vallejo now.
The subject is rECREATIONAL cannabis NOT ALCOHOL OR CIGARTETTES. iT WILL NOT BE LONG BEFORE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE A BEER IN THE PARK WITHOUT A PERMIT. TRY 2018. IT WILL ALSO NOT BE LONG BEFORE YOU START TO SEE MAJOR STORES NO LONGER SELLING CIGARETTES. THERE ARE MANY CHANGES COMING. IF IT GOES AS THE PLANNING COMMISSIONS WANTS IT WILL BE IN THE LOWER ARSENIAL NOT THE INDUSTRIAL PARK AS YOU SAY. JOHN MANY PEOPLE VOTED IN FAVOR OF LEGALIZATION JUST NOT IN MY BACK YARD.
BOB,
DON’ YELL!
My main point has always been that the people of the state and city have voted for legalization. Now we need to deal with it regardless of our personal feelings or beliefs. Many of the same arguments against legalization have been used against tobacco and alcohol. Many major stores no longer sell cigarettes, but there is no BAN against them doing so – it was a corporate decision. Pushing into the lower arsenal or NIMBY is just ridiculous. Bring it out in the open and TALK to your kids. Don’t treat it like a disease. Talk to your kids and parent them
Sorry for the caps. The vote has nothing to do with placement. Look around the Bay Area. Not many city’s are for Recreational Cannabis Dispensaries. There will be plenty of places to make a purchase. All within a very short driving distant. So we only have one in Benicia. Is that not enough”? Do you want more”? Medical Cannabis delivery could also be available. You and Stan, Peterson make it sound as if the city is banning it completely. They are not. Live with it. If all goes well there could be more. Nothing to get all jumped up about.
According to our mayor and council, tourism is the future and only revenue source for Benicia. Everything else is not green therefore not desirable. We aren’t suppose to scare away “yuppie tourists”..
I do understand your comment. We have no Tourism. All you have to do is go look at Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Healdsburg etc. Why is it we do not have a Jacks. Their prices are great and have a great menu. Benicia would be an ideal expansion location. But that makes to much sense. A great place in Pleasant hill. I could go on but it falls on deaf ears.
The 2016 Benicia election results had close to 900 voters abstaining from choosing either mayoral candidate. The city council seat race had over 6000 under-votes for two choices, clearly an exercise in tactical voting. The only choices in both races were senior citizens or one candidate closer to the median age of Benicia, listed as 43 on the city’s web page. Conservative-labeled candidates all failed to be elected.
I believe the under-votes were younger voters that could not identify with the available choices, so they skipped voting. Candidates representative of the median age Benicia citizen and supportive of regulated cannabusiness in Benicia are sure to appeal to the masses next year. This is all part of the “generational shift” noted by Thomas Petersen. Conservative-labeled candidates who lost last time and are going to take another shot at it in 2018 are sure to reduce their odds even further by advocating against cannabis during the current policy formation exercises. You know there will be at minimum a thousand or so new young voters from recent BHS grads, and their views on cannabis have been indicated here. Then there’s the 9000 Benicia voters that said YES to Prop. 64 last November.
Very premature Stan. Could well be Stan that any candidate that favors recreation cannabis will loose. . A little too soon to make those predictions. But I do know you will have one new candidate on the City Council and it will not be a Socialist Progressive. My prediction. I was the only one from the very beginning that said President Trump would win. Guess what Stan, he did. The City Council election is a non partisan election., That means young family’s will vote different than you think Stan. Just watch.
There will be hundreds of new jobs in the local cannabis industry for our younger residents. All the dispensaries I visit have young staff just like any coffee shop in this town, offering cannabis instead of caffeine. Behind the scenes are hundreds more working to bring the products to the consumer. The state will allow both M and A licenses to operate from the same place, or either exclusively. Once a consumer goes in, it’s nobodies business why.
I also want to thank Main Street and former council member Strawbridge for organizing an internal poll of Benicia First Street businesses to assess their views on a dispensary on First Street. Only 23 of the 150+ listed at the Downtown Business Alliance web page objected to a dispensary as a neighbor.
Did you see what the Planning Commission forwarded to the City Council. I do believe you will have to change your tune or just understand that you have seen defeated.. Your glamorous Cannabis story is over Stan. I could be wrong. Nov. 7th will tell us all the final story. No Cannabis Dispensary on First Street Stan.
Stan we will have only two if that passes the council. The BIP is to be determined. Tell me how many jobs per Cannabis Dispensary? Do you know. Vallejo has eleven. Hundreds of new jobs in Benicia? Is that what you are saying. Give us the breakdown.
Stan you are in a dream world.
I lived in Benicia 19 years and thought it as a charming fun town to live in. It had a lot of community spirit missing in so many towns. I hate to see iBenicia become like everyone else. It is bad enough that
adults and kids text while driving, but being high on MJ as well is a disaster waiting to happen. Drugs of
all types are ruining our society. Keep Benicia unique. That is why people like to visit the town.
Kay, What does “community spirit” have to do with MJ legalization?