Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

If this bus is smoking...

Brewery and cannabis tours roll into San Diego

Passengers chat amid cannabis smoke during a Bud & Brews tour.
Passengers chat amid cannabis smoke during a Bud & Brews tour.

It was a warm, partly cloudy April afternoon in North Park, and Pariah Brewing Company had opened its loading bay doors to let in a cooling breeze. From behind the bar, the beertender watched as a blank white party bus parked across the street. When its passenger door opened, a cloud of smoke funneled out, followed by more than a dozen thirsty customers, and the unmistakable funk of marijuana. West Coast Cannabis Tours had arrived.

Cans of Smylex Rye IPA being served to Buds & Brews tourists at Pariah Brewing Company.

Tour bus arrivals have long been a common sight at local breweries, but with California’s legalization of recreational marijuana in January, a new breed of brewery tours have emerged to combine the two intoxicants, visiting recreational dispensaries in between stops at tasting rooms.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Smoking cannabis by passengers inside this bus is not prohibited by state law.

Todd Green founded West Coast in in anticipation of the new law. “I had previously considered opening a dispensary,” says the finance industry vet. However, because Federal law still prohibits recreational pot, marijuana businesses can’t deposit revenue into traditional banks. “A dispensary is a cash business,” explains Green, “If you can’t use a bank account that’s a little too gray for me.”

However, a marijuana-adjacent business can both embrace the new market opportunity, and document income. West Coast started out with two buses, boasting 28- and 40-passenger capacities, and offers an introduction to cannabis tour, as well as marijuana experiences involving painting and yoga.

First stop of the $99 Buds & Brews tour was Green Flash Brewing for a brewery tour, then a dispensary, then Pariah. In addition to tourists from overseas and out of state, that includes residents of Orange and Los Angeles counties, which have yet to license recreational cannabis retailers. Nevertheless, once boarded, passengers started rolling before the bus did, lighting up joints which filled the passenger compartment with smoke as the vehicle navigated the highway.

The legality of that has been subject to interpretation. “Nobody has told me yes or no, says Kaylena Pinuelas, “not even my attorney.” A Navy vet who adopted marijuana use to treat PTSD, Pinuelas operates another new tour company, MJ Tours California.

Along with wine and cocktail theme cannabis tours, MJ offers its own Buds & Brews tour, visiting the likes of AleSmith Brewing, Rough Draft Brewing, and Mike Hess Brewing, plus dispensaries, for $110. MJ Tours operates on a smaller scale, with a 14-person limo bus going for laid back and intimate compared to West Coast’s relative party vibe. However, its riders partake on the bus, all the same.

“We’re operating under the charter bus party law that states as long as the driver is blocked off, it’s okay,” says Pinuelas. In California, charter bus operations are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, which issued cease and desists to both Green and Pinuelas earlier this year, then quickly rescinded them.

That’s due to an update to section 23220 of the state vehicle code, the one stating a driver or passenger, “shall not drink any alcoholic beverage,” while on a highway. State lawmakers added the words “or smoke or ingest marijuana,” to likewise prohibit smoking and driving. However, a later section, 23229, explicitly exempts private charter buses from having to comply to that specific section of code. As long as the driver is physically secluded from the passengers, including separate air ventilation, the same law allowing party bus passengers to drink, now allows them to ingest marijuana, by default.

The tour operators do not provide cannabis or beer to guests.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

Croome Brothers Trio, Jack Tempchin, Ricky, Swami & the Bed Of Nails, Kahlil Nash

Acoustic and electric in Del Mar, La Jolla, Little Italy, and City Heights
Passengers chat amid cannabis smoke during a Bud & Brews tour.
Passengers chat amid cannabis smoke during a Bud & Brews tour.

It was a warm, partly cloudy April afternoon in North Park, and Pariah Brewing Company had opened its loading bay doors to let in a cooling breeze. From behind the bar, the beertender watched as a blank white party bus parked across the street. When its passenger door opened, a cloud of smoke funneled out, followed by more than a dozen thirsty customers, and the unmistakable funk of marijuana. West Coast Cannabis Tours had arrived.

Cans of Smylex Rye IPA being served to Buds & Brews tourists at Pariah Brewing Company.

Tour bus arrivals have long been a common sight at local breweries, but with California’s legalization of recreational marijuana in January, a new breed of brewery tours have emerged to combine the two intoxicants, visiting recreational dispensaries in between stops at tasting rooms.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Smoking cannabis by passengers inside this bus is not prohibited by state law.

Todd Green founded West Coast in in anticipation of the new law. “I had previously considered opening a dispensary,” says the finance industry vet. However, because Federal law still prohibits recreational pot, marijuana businesses can’t deposit revenue into traditional banks. “A dispensary is a cash business,” explains Green, “If you can’t use a bank account that’s a little too gray for me.”

However, a marijuana-adjacent business can both embrace the new market opportunity, and document income. West Coast started out with two buses, boasting 28- and 40-passenger capacities, and offers an introduction to cannabis tour, as well as marijuana experiences involving painting and yoga.

First stop of the $99 Buds & Brews tour was Green Flash Brewing for a brewery tour, then a dispensary, then Pariah. In addition to tourists from overseas and out of state, that includes residents of Orange and Los Angeles counties, which have yet to license recreational cannabis retailers. Nevertheless, once boarded, passengers started rolling before the bus did, lighting up joints which filled the passenger compartment with smoke as the vehicle navigated the highway.

The legality of that has been subject to interpretation. “Nobody has told me yes or no, says Kaylena Pinuelas, “not even my attorney.” A Navy vet who adopted marijuana use to treat PTSD, Pinuelas operates another new tour company, MJ Tours California.

Along with wine and cocktail theme cannabis tours, MJ offers its own Buds & Brews tour, visiting the likes of AleSmith Brewing, Rough Draft Brewing, and Mike Hess Brewing, plus dispensaries, for $110. MJ Tours operates on a smaller scale, with a 14-person limo bus going for laid back and intimate compared to West Coast’s relative party vibe. However, its riders partake on the bus, all the same.

“We’re operating under the charter bus party law that states as long as the driver is blocked off, it’s okay,” says Pinuelas. In California, charter bus operations are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, which issued cease and desists to both Green and Pinuelas earlier this year, then quickly rescinded them.

That’s due to an update to section 23220 of the state vehicle code, the one stating a driver or passenger, “shall not drink any alcoholic beverage,” while on a highway. State lawmakers added the words “or smoke or ingest marijuana,” to likewise prohibit smoking and driving. However, a later section, 23229, explicitly exempts private charter buses from having to comply to that specific section of code. As long as the driver is physically secluded from the passengers, including separate air ventilation, the same law allowing party bus passengers to drink, now allows them to ingest marijuana, by default.

The tour operators do not provide cannabis or beer to guests.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Next Article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.