Santa Cruz County Supervisors in February. (Marcello Hutchinson-Trujillo — Santa Cruz Local file)

The new rules would allow areas next to or within existing cannabis stores where people can smoke or otherwise consume cannabis. The law is set to be considered for final approval March 25. 

Supervisors Justin Cummings, Manu Koenig and Felipe Hernandez voted in favor of the new rules. Supervisors Monica Martinez and Kim De Serpa, both elected in November, voted no, and said the lounges could encourage driving under the influence. 

De Serpa said she was worried about possible lounges at cannabis dispensaries near Soquel Drive. 

“There are a lot of kids on bikes. There’s a lot of people trying to get up and down that corridor, and it’s very, very dangerous,” she said. “To have people going into a lounge, getting high, and then trying to get out onto Soquel Drive is not a good idea.”

Koenig said cannabis lounges could reduce driving while high because employees could caution intoxicated customers to stay off the roads. “No one’s going to do that when someone’s getting high on the beach,” Koenig said.

Teen cannabis report

Separately, county health staff discussed a report on teen cannabis use with recommended policies to reduce underage use. The supervisors accepted the report but did not take action on the recommendations.

Over the past 20 years, the percentage of Santa Cruz County middle and high school students that use cannabis has fallen, according to state survey data. 

• From 2008 to 2010, 10% of seventh graders and 27% of 11th graders reported using cannabis in the prior 30 days. 
• From 2021 to 2023, those figures dropped to 2% of seventh graders and 12% of 11th graders, according to surveys.

But the societal costs associated with cannabis use “are alarmingly high, impacting both public health and the economy through crime, productivity losses, and health care costs,” the county staff report stated.

Over the past two fiscal years, the county spent $775,305 on mental health treatment for youth under 25 with a main diagnosis of cannabis use disorder, the report stated. Alcohol and other drugs also carry health risks and costs, advocates have said.

The county staff report recommended measures to further reduce underage cannabis use, including:

• Bans on flavored cannabis products.
• More substance use programs at alternative schools. 
• Potency limits on cannabis products, or taxes on high-potency products.
• More enforcement against illegal cannabis sales and driving while intoxicated. 

Money to pay for these and other recommended measures could be raised with higher licensing fees for cannabis businesses, new fines for license violations, or higher cannabis taxes, the report stated.

Martinez proposed that the county reach out to other groups, including local cannabis businesses and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, for feedback on the report and possible measures to reduce teen cannabis use. 

“I have no intent on re-litigating the legalization of cannabis,” Martinez said. “I feel like my role is to bring forward all of the information when we’re making public policy, so we can make the most comprehensive and thoughtful decision moving forward.”

De Serpa and Martinez voted yes to circulating and seeking feedback on the staff report on teen cannabis use, and Hernandez and Koenig voted no. Cummings was absent for the vote.

Hernandez said a new effort to coordinate on youth cannabis issues could take away staff time from other priorities. “We’ve got limited bandwidth, and we have a huge crisis facing us with immigration and LGBTQ rights, with our current administration that we’re going to be working on,” Hernandez said.

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