Sunset Beach Must Ban Marijuana Dispensaries, County Says

​On Jan. 1, 2011, Sunset Beach will officially merge with Huntington Beach. Amazingly, for Sunset Beach residents, that's not the bad news. The bad news is that they won't be able to medicate themselves through this unfortunate merger with marijuana.

Although Surf City doesn't allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate legally, city officials had said that Sunset Beach's cannabis clubs could continue to operate, since they had already obtained permits to provide medical marijuana to their members.

But last month, the county Board of Supervisors voted to prohibit all cannabis clubs in unincorporated areas of the county, so now county officials are telling Sunset Beach clubs that they have to shut their doors by January.

The Register has a story on this latest development in Orange County's crackdown on legal marijuana today, which you can read here. Weedmaps.com, which tracks cannabis clubs, lists only three clubs currently operating in Sunset Beach--the Sea and Sand Collective, Cali Genes, and the Compassionate Herbal Health Collective. The owner of one of those clubs, Craig Hansen, has already promised to disobey the order, saying that he'll continue to operate until officials "drag me out."

Although the punishment for disobeying the ban is reportedly just a fine, given the fact that Huntington Beach's finest will soon have even more presence in Sunset Beach--the dept. already patrols the area--Hansen may just get his wish