The City of Oakland currently has 4 permitted Medical Marijuana dispensaries and has approved 4 more for a total of 8 marijuana clubs within Oakland’s borders. At the moment 10 finalist have been chosen for consideration and by early February Oakland will choose the 4 winners of new Medical Marijuana Dispensary permits.
Oakland (also known as Oaksterdam) is taking a step forward while others are taking a step back. The Federal Government has raided and shut down over 200 pot clubs during the last few months but that hasn’t stopped Oaksterdam from growing. While others are shutting down Oakland has doubled the amount of permitted clubs.
In fact, recently the Federal Government has encroached on Harborside and the City of Oakland is suing the U.S. Government.
Oakland has always been cutting edge in the Medical Marijuana Industry.
In 2006 Oakland became home to Harborside Health Center, which is now the nations biggest dispensary with 112,000 patients.
In 2007 Oaksterdamn became home to Americas first Cannabis University or “weed college”. However the feds have raided and shut them down which is a sad point in the forward movement.
In 2009 Oakland was the first US City to tax Medical Marijuana.
Why would the City of Oakland do such a thing? Well it’s because Oakland charges a $60,000 fee for each dispensary permit, along side with collecting a 5 percent annual business tax. This brings in about $1 million dollars a year for Oakland and could potentially be doubled to $2 million if the 4 new clubs perform as well as the existing 4.
Meanwhile the state of California is bringing in about $100 million a year in taxes from the billion dollar medical marijuana industry.
This is also great news for the Growing Industry because with only 4 clubs the market is currently flooded and over saturated with high grade marijuana. Meaning the clubs are turning away growers and not buying their crops.
With 4 more clubs in play the demand will go up and the growers have a higher chance of selling their crops to a local dispensaries versus having to use the black market.
The above Oaksterdam Mural has been painted over by the new landlord of the building after Oaksterdam University was shut down. It’s a shame to see it go because it was a beautiful work of art.
Oakland Medical Marijuana Clubs
Current Dispensaries: 4
New Permits: 4
Total Pot Clubs: 8
Oakland Revenue: About $1 million a year in fees and taxes.
San Francisco Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: 24 (SF does NOT tax them like Oakland)
Statewide: 1,000
State Sales: $1 billion
States taxes: $100 Million
Stats from several web sources but here is one.
- oaksterdam dispensaries (129)
- oaksterdam dispensary (101)
