Cannabis Consumption Lounges are Coming / Second Harvest Food Bank Update

It’s no secret that Santa Cruz County loves its weed. Take a trip to UCSC’s campus on April 20th and you’ll get a sense of what I mean.

But despite the community enthusiasm for the flowering herb, the industry has struggled to take off both at the local and statewide level after it was legalized almost a decade ago.

Those struggles are part of what inspired Santa Cruz County supervisors Manu Koenig and Felipe Hernandez to sponsor a pair of county ordinances designed to give the struggling industry an added spark.

The Board of Supervisors recently gave the green light to new local rules that allow for on-site consumption lounges at local cannabis retail businesses. They have also given an initial go-ahead to establish a three-year pilot program that would permit similar on-site consumption areas at cannabis farms, among other things. An initial read of the farm-specific ordinance was approved last week, but it will need to get a second majority vote when a final version of the ordinance appears on the board’s agenda next week.

To tell us more about the intended benefits of the new local laws and to address some of the concerns voiced by the community and even some of his colleagues on the board, Talk of the Bay Host PK Hattis was recently joined by 1st district Supervisor Manu Koenig.

NOTE: Since this episode aired, the Board of Supervisors officially delivered a final vote to approve the three-year pilot program at local cannabis farms.

Part 2: Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County CEO Erica Padilla-Chavez will give us the latest on the federal food deliveries to the Watsonville-based food bank that were abruptly halted four weeks ago. She’ll share how this has impacted local services and what the community can do to help. Show Links: https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/03/11/santa-cruz-county-supervisors-give-cannabis-consumption-lounges-the-green-light/ https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/03/27/santa-cruz-county-cannabis-lounge-policy-clears-final-hurdle/ https://donate.thefoodbank.org/campaign/659968/donate?c_src=website