Just last week, San Jose began taxing medical marijuana dispensaries, in keeping with the passage of Measure U in the last election. City Hall even held a seminar for dispensary owners on how to calculate and pay the 7 percent tax. While the city believes that this could become an important source of new revenue, officials also want to take the opportunity to cut back on the actual number of dispensaries.
According to current estimations, there are 110 dispensaries doing business in the city, but the vast majority of these are not licensed. Mayor Chuck Reed and several members of City Council want to bring that number down to just ten. Surprisingly, some of the club owners agree with Reed, in principal at least. They believe that there are too many pot clubs in the city, and that this diminishes their own business. On the other hand, none of them wants to be among the one hundred clubs that gets shut down. Nor do they believe that 10 is enough for a city of almost 1 million people.
Reed says that he is ready to act now, having been to eight hearings on the issue already. He may not get what he wants. Another hearing is already scheduled for April 12.
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