Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

California has been trying to figure out how to regulate medical and social cannabis since Prop. 64 passed in November. Two big issues are where each can be sold and where they can be grown.

On Thursday, a measure was proposed that would let medical cannabis and social cannabis be sold at the same location, according to the Los Angeles Times, and it will also allow businesses to grow medical cannabis next to social cannabis.

If it’s not done this way, medical stores will have to be completely separate from social stores, and growing operations will also have to be completely separate. That would make it more expensive for companies that want to do both medical and social, and that cost could get passed on to the consumer.

“Separating recreational and medical would definitely increase the price, because you have to two different locations… A lot of people who are in the medical business are applying for recreational licenses,” Ellen Komp, deputy director of California NORML, told Cannabis News Box.

It’s not just about price, either. Medical cannabis patients who need products many social stores wouldn’t sell might have a harder time getting those products if social and medical have to be separate.

“One fear about having two separate store fronts is most licensees might choose to go with adult use, rather than a medical license, because that’s a more limited license, so if they can carry both, then patients are assured better access to medicine,” Jolene Forman, a staff attorney at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Cannabis News Box.

You can’t sell as many different kinds of products with the medical license, so finding a place that does medical could become harder if they have to be separate. Putting them in one place makes things easier for everyone involved.

“There will hopefully be products that are only available to medical users—higher potency products, in particular,” Komp said. Other states that allow both to be sold in one location have made it so there are different doors and different areas for each kind of customer, so one side for recreational customers and one side for medical patients.

Convenience is really important for a successful cannabis industry. No one wants to have to go to one store for their high potency medicine and another for their casual smoking bud if they can avoid it. It’s also interesting to note that many current medical cannabis patients who use cannabis for mostly social purposes, or even ones who use it for medical purposes but don’t like the hassle of getting a card, may stop being patients.

“I think a lot of people who were in the medical system might end up in the recreational system, because people don’t like having to go to the doctor and get a card and things like that,” Komp said.

Komp said lawmakers may have wanted to keep social and medical separate because of the Trump administration, which appears to have more contempt for social than medical, but it simply doesn’t make sense to keep them separate. Whatever the reason, if this proposal isn’t approved, it may cause major problems for producers and consumers when social sales start in 2018.