Four Long Beach dispensaries will begin selling recreational marijuana Friday

The greenlight to sell cannabis products to any adult over 21 was a long time coming for Adam Hijazi, owner of the LB Green Room and The Station, which will be open for medical  (and now recreational) business Friday.

“It feels great to be able to stop sending local residents back outside,” Hijazi said, referring to the multiple customers who have entered his dispensaries since they opened, only to be turned away due to a lack of medical cards.

Hijazi called the occasion an “overall win for stakeholders,” especially consumers who will finally have safe access to cannabis.

Hijazi was one of the key industry players in helping bring back marijuana to Long Beach after the city banned the drug in 2012. He was a member of the city’s task force that helped craft recommendations for the council when it considered its own marijuana policy in 2015 before voters passed an initiative in 2016 legalizing medical marijuana.

While recreational cannabis became legal at the beginning of the year with the passing of a statewide initiative in 2016, the city waited several months before passing its own local law legalizing sales  on July 13. Even then, dispensary owners had to wait until Aug. 13 to submit applications to receive adult-use business licenses and then be subject to inspection checks.

The following dispensaries will be able to sell recreational cannabis to any person with a government-issued identification in and out of California:

• LB Green Room, 1735 E. 7th St.
• The Station, 1957 Pacific Ave.
• Connected Belmont Shore – 5227 2nd St.
• One Love Beach Club, 2767 E. Broadway

Other dispensaries will be subject to inspection checks next week, according to city cannabis program manager Ajay Kolluri.

For more information on California’s laws and regulations click here, to read about Long Beach’s laws click here.