The Apothecarium said it took 18 months to find this new site. The owners of Hi-Fidelity, another cannabis retailer two blocks away, expressed concern it would lose business if it opened there.
The first new cannabis dispensary in Berkeley in decades is opening, with two more to follow. Eventually, there will be six places in town to purchase marijuna.
Even though The Apothecarium has an agreement, the property owner is refusing to let the company gain entry to the space.
Berkeley City Council last night approved the city’s fifth and sixth cannabis dispensaries, four months after approving the fourth. A long night of public comment and testimony was followed by a relatively brief discussion by councilmembers before selecting Berkeley Compassionate Care Collective (BC3), 2465 Telegraph Ave. (led by the owners of Amoeba Music), and The Apothecarium, 2578 Shattuck Ave. (from an established San Francisco dispensary).
After Berkeley residents voted in 2010 to increase the number of medical cannabis dispensaries in town from three to four, it took the City Council six years to approve the first new one.
When David Prinz goes before a gathering of Telegraph Avenue neighbors Thursday to talk about the cannabis dispensary he would like to open at Amoeba Music, he will emphasize how his experience selling records will help him create a welcoming spot for cannabis patients. Plus, it will help revitalize the street, he will argue.
The owner of Amoeba Music, former managers of the largest cannabis dispensary in Oakland, a current Berkeley medical cannabis commissioner, and a group that has filed numerous lawsuits against the city, have all applied to open the fourth dispensary in Berkeley.
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