How to get an Orange County Cannabis License

How to get an Orange County Cannabis License

Finding a property

Every license starts with a location.  The City and State both need to have an address to inspect, regulate, and send official notices to.  But one of the biggest hurdles in obtaining a cannabis license is finding a compliant property.

Filing for a corporation and getting a Seller’s Permit is NOT enough. This is one of the first steps, but it is a long journey to get licensed. So what exactly does it take? It’s different for each city, especially now that many cities are institute procedures for the first time in their history for cannabis.

Your Businesses’ Standard Operating Procedures

These are perhaps the most expensive aspect of the application. These are detailed procedures for your business operation that show the City how you will incorporate both the City Municipal Code and State Code requirements to run a compliant cannabis business.

Just like with any other business, starting with a business plan is always a good idea.  The reason why standard operating procedures take so long to draft, and why they cannot truly be templatized (created via a template)  is that each City has their own ordinances and each operation has their own way of doing things.

As such, this is perhaps one of the lengthiest documents to prepare. Once these have been prepared, they are easier to edit for different City codes. In other words, once you have these, you can edit them relatively quickly for new Cities if you plan to have permits for multiple cities and will be following the same procedures for each.

Cannabis Business Security Plan

A Security Plan for your cannabis business details and outlines how you will follow all of the City and State security measures required as per code. Security Plans can be written by consultants or by a professional security company. These often detail the amount of video being stored, where cameras are placed, and security protocols.

Cannabis Safety Plans

Safety Plans detail how your employees will be safe while operating a cannabis business. These need to be detailed and follow all of State Code for workplace safety. In other words, they need to follow the general codes and laws for workplaces in the State of California, not just cannabis code.

Staffing Plan / Marketing Plan / Business Plan

These plans usually allow you to express to the City who you are. They include company mission, ethic, and biographies. This allows the City to understand who the business is and to ensure that the business will be sustainable.

Neighborhood Compatibility / Community Benefits

These plans showcase how your business will interact with the community and any community benefits your business will bring. These are important because they show your engagement with the community.

Environmental Sustainability / Green Business Practices

This is very common in NorCal and unincorporated counties. These plans ask for you to consider the environment and follow the State of California’s environmental regulations to ensure your business does not pollute, overuse water, or leave an unnecessarily large carbon footprint.

Contact us if you need an Orange County Cannabis lawyer to guide your new business.  We can help.