Local dispensary voting to continue open smoking lounge

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - A packed Imperial County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday allowing a local dispensary to also operate as a cannabis lounge without any walls or separations.

Some shaking their heads, but many came in support of their favorite place to buy pot and later enthusiasm once the vote came down.

"The Other Guys" located in Heber, Calif. is the first dispensary to have a pot lounge.

Meaning customers can purchase Marijuana and smoke it there/

Currently the dispensary and the lounge are separated, meaning customers have to go around the building to enter the lounge.

The company says now that they can join the two, they hope sales will go up.

Imperial County's Undersheriff says they are worried about this decision.

“I think that would be our biggest concern… is what safety measures are being done for people who are smoking on the way home and driving… and biggest concern if it is a bar are we cutting people off when they are too high," said Robert Benavidez, Imperial County Undersheriff.

But one local says this vote is historic.

"This is the only dispensary that has tried to appeal this decision and they did so meaning that they approved it… this is a movement for our cannabis community and I think that hopefully like I said other dispensary’s such as March and ash is able to follow in their foot steps," said Laura Monji, an Imperial County resident.

The vote by the board is an appeal to the Imperial County Planning Director who requires this type of separation between a dispensary and a lounge.

"The Other Guys" dispensary has been open since 2021.