Cannabis operators agree to settle lawsuit and pay back taxes to city

It will be raining green in the City of San Bernardino (in more ways than one) as the City prevailed in lawsuits against two local marijuana distributors and will receive nearly two million dollars in back taxes from them very soon. The owners of the two businesses, Captain Jack’s Dispensary and Shatter Dispensary and Lounge, decided to settle the lawsuits instead of carry on with what had become a very long and expensive legal battle.

The agreement also included the withdrawal a 2022 ballot initiative the two business owners were spearheading.  The proposed measure if it were to pass would radically reduce local utility taxes from 7.75% to 3%.

The City of San Bernardino has pledged to give the existing cannabis operations the permits needed to operate legally within city limits.

The confusion over the legal status of the businesses and their ability to operate and pay taxes came under a legal cloud when the measure that made their operations in the City of San Bernardino possible was challenged in court and eventually invalidated.  Despite the ruling the judge said the businesses could continue operating.

Measure X a different cannabis business operations plan passed in 2018 further complicating matters for the two existing marijuana sales facilities because it had no mention of businesses that had been granted licenses by Measure O previously.  Then in 2020 an appellate court reinstated the validity of Measure O.

The City expects to collect north of $2 million in taxes from the two dispensaries combined each year.