San Diego’s first legal medical marijuana dispensary, A Green Alternative, opened its doors for business in Otay Mesa on March 20. Its application and approval process took 13 months.

Since then, 11 other dispensaries have managed to get licenses from the city. San Diego’sstrict zoning regulations, passed nearly two decades after California legalized medical marijuana, have made it difficult for storefront dispensaries to find places to operate. Those conditions have led to a boom in a less visible, less regulated sector of the pot industry: medical marijuana delivery services.

Kimberly Simms, a San Diego lawyer specializing in medical marijuana law, said delivery is one of the least regulated sectors of the market. San Diego’s zoning ordinance does not address delivery at all.

Simms said because delivery services are less visible than storefront dispensaries, city governments have been content to look the other way. [Read more at KPBS.org]