Bay Area medical cannabis patients may be just three months away from having twice the number of dispensaries in Oakland. Public hearings for ten groups seeking one of four new dispensary permits are scheduled to wrap up this week. A final decision on the four could come within fifteen days. Oakland has four existing facilities.
Twelve groups submitted business plans for a new dispensary in the fall, and city employees scored each plan, ranking them according to their site, capitalization, and community benefits. A representative of each group took a written test in December, and officials handed out bonus points for environmental efforts and local hiring promises. Going into hearings January hearings, the top four scoring groups were: