Fullerton City Council unanimously voted to introduce an ordinance enacting increased fines for commercial cannabis use, specifically fines for dispensaries that are illegally operating.

The updates are being made so that city codes align with AB 1684, a state law outlining fines and penalties surrounding unlicensed cannabis use and sales.

The new ordinance would allow immediate fines for unlicensed cannabis activity of up to $1,000 per violation and $10,000 per day.

Enforcement falls to the office of Code Enforcement, which leads enforcement efforts in conjunction with other offices, as the prohibition of cannabis is classified as a zoning issue.

The updates would also “establish clear business activity prohibition” and outline penalties for business owners of illegal dispensaries in the city’s municipal code and attempt to curb operations that continue amidst ongoing investigations via repeat organization and relocations.

“We believe that this will create increased accountability and many of the responsible parties will be contacted by the police and be prosecuted by the city attorney’s office,” said Fullerton Chief of Police Jon Radus at a council meeting. “So the operators, the property owners, landlords, managers that are working in the business, clerks that know it’s illegal in Fullerton and still operate.”

While the council briefly considered allowing regulations on commercial cannabis in February 2021, they ultimately repealed the ordinance in March of that year.

This decision came due to the council’s concerns that regulations did not include suitable enough “buffer zones” between cannabis dispensaries and the nearby neighborhoods. 

Under the introduced ordinance, the unlicensed commercial sale of cannabis remains prohibited. The ordinance also creates a new enforcement chapter that will be led by the police department.

The new ordinance would allow for law enforcement to consider a “case-by-case application” of the law.

According to Radus, who presented the ordinance to city council, targeting illegal dispensaries was causing a strain on the city’s resources due to the time needed to process penalties.

“Oftentimes, when we shut these dispensaries down with code enforcement, with California Department of Cannabis Control and then with our police officers, because the way it’s currently written, oftentimes, we’ll shut them down and then they’ll open up the very next day again,” Radus said.

The ordinance would have no fiscal impact on the city, as the existing budget supports enforcement efforts, according to Radus. While he cited “some case-specific costs,” he stated that costs could be partially recovered through fines. 

During public comment on the item, some criticized the city’s prohibition of cannabis sales, stating that allowing regulated cannabis sales could benefit the city due to sales revenues they could collect from the dispensaries

“The city should embrace what’s already around,” second-year cultural anthropology graduate student Jorge Contreras said in an interview with the Daily Titan. “Whether it’s for tax purposes, other revenue, or, you know, for the city itself, or just to have some kind of formal regulations.”

Currently, 28 cities in Orange County prohibit all cannabis business types and six cities — La Habra, Stanton, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Laguna Woods — allow at least one type of cannabis business type.