Retail cannabis dispensaries operating in Santa Cruz County’s unincorporated communities such as Aptos, Felton and Pleasure Point can now open up smoking and consumption lounges after a tense 3-2 vote from the county’s governing board on Tuesday. 

Dispensary owners can begin submitting proposals for these lounges at, or adjacent to, their existing location on April 26, when the law change goes into effect.

In voting against the ordinance, Supervisors Kim De Serpa (District 2) and Monica Martinez (D5) made emotional and emphatic pleas for their colleagues to join their opposition. 

De Serpa’s rejection of the proposal was colored by her own family history. Through tears, she recounted how her father was killed by a drunk driver when she was 3 years old, and how a relative of close friends in Aptos was “plowed down by [a driver] under the influence of cannabis.” 

“That’s a real story, and this is what you’re approving,” De Serpa said. She then invoked the story of former Santa Cruz County analyst Allison Endert. In 2020, Endert, 43, while working for then-Supervisor Ryan Coonerty, was killed by a driver found to be under the influence of cannabis. 

“The memory of Allison Endert matters,” De Serpa said. 

Martinez said the board carries a “moral liability if we allow more high drivers on the road.” 

At one point, De Serpa incorrectly stated that “every one of our law enforcement agencies, [California Highway Patrol], sheriff and police,” have expressed “their opposition.”

Only officers from CHP and the Scotts Valley Police Department have publicly pushed back against the idea. In exchanges with Lookout, a spokesperson from the sheriff’s office said the agency was not taking a position on the new law. Officials from Santa Cruz and Capitola said high driving has not been an issue in their areas, nor were they particularly concerned about cannabis lounges opening in the county. 

However, the law enforcement officials told Lookout that measuring cannabis intoxication remains a challenge. Since the 1950s, police have relied on breathalyzers, which measure ethanol content to help determine a person’s level of intoxication. With cannabis, officers still lack a legal limit similar to the .08% blood-alcohol content. And while cannabis tests do exist, it’s difficult to determine whether someone smoked a joint two hours ago or two weeks ago. 

Supervisor Justin Cummings (D3) reaffirmed his support for the law change, saying consumption lounges would create a venue for practical education on using cannabis, which he said was important as the products change and become more potent. 

“[Cannabis is] legal now, so we have to find ways to incorporate it into our society,” Cummings said. 

Supervisor Manu Koenig (D1), who has led the push to permit the dispensary lounges, said law enforcement officials in Iselton, Eureka, and Palm Springs — other California locales where lounges are permitted — told his office there had been no noticeable rise in cannabis-related DUIs. 

“We are not approving drugged driving,” Koenig said. He said the only “really legal way” to leave a lounge would be on foot, public transportation or a designated driver. “If anything this makes [law enforcement’s] job easier because it consolidates usage in one place.”   

Koenig also cited data that more than 20% of people consider cannabis legality when choosing a travel destination and said by opening lounges, the county had a “huge opportunity to positively impact cannabis culture countrywide and reap some economic benefits.” 

In one exchange, supervisors asked how the county could ensure lounge owners would be held responsible for overserving customers, similar to bar owners with alcohol. Cannabis Licensing Office Sam LoForti said his office could revoke a dispensary’s license for such a violation. But county counsel Jason Heath had to publicly correct LoForti, saying the Cannabis Licensing Office did not hold that kind of power, since the county code did not include rules about overserving at cannabis lounges. 

Martinez then urged her colleagues to postpone approval until they could develop rules around lounge-owner liability. 

“This does not signal to our residents that their safety matters on the roads,” Martinez said. 

After the vote, the board unanimously directed county staff to develop rules and penalties for overserving, which will come back to supervisors at a later date.

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