Palm Springs is in talks to extend its Cannabis moratorium from 45 days to 10 months and 15 days

Palm Springs city council plans to start conversations about extending its forty five day Cannabis Moratorium to ten months and fifteen days.

The Council could vote Thursday to extend the moratorium for new cannabis dispensaries while considering bigger changes for an industry some council members think has become oversaturated and unsustainable.

News Channel 3's Peter Daut spoke with Veronica Goedhart, the director of special program compliance for Palm Springs, right before the first attempt to create the forty five day extension.

Cannabis Business Operators expressed several areas of general concern, including:
• Overall trend of reduced traffic and profits.
• Tax concerns about the impact of taxes and fees across multiple levels of government.
• The illicit market remains an area of concern.
• Financial challenges due to limited resources to banking.
• Federal cannabis prohibition.

News Channel 3 asked why the city is discussing an extension of the Cannabis Moratorium from 45 days to 10 months and 15 days.

The City Public Information Officer shared a statement that reads:

"The Department of Special Program Compliance is making these changes because they are in the process of beginning to work with the City Council and meet with stakeholders to get input about developing regulatory changes as a way to assist the struggling cannabis industry. Even though Staff is requesting an extension of 10 months, the moratorium can be terminated at any time."

Under the existing moratorium, the City will not grant retail cannabis permits or
process any applications for cannabis operations.