Street Fairs and Outdoor Events

Advocate for the adoption of vendor policies at local street fairs to eliminate the sale of drug paraphernalia and pro-drug items.

In July of 2004, we assessed a Reggae Concert at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheater. At that event, we found significant amounts of drug paraphernalia and a host of items that promoted drug use. As a result the City of Oceanside amended their headshop ordinance to stipulate that drug paraphernalia could only be sold in licensed buildings. The coalition realized that  this was only part of the problem since the ordinance did not prevent street vendors from selling marijuana promotional items, so NCPC looked to address it through a private business policy.

First, NCPC went to the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, the organizers of their annual Harbor Days event to establish a vendor policy that states “any tobacco, tobacco/drug paraphernalia or any item that promotes the use of an illicit drug is prohibited from being sold”.  The 2004 Harbor Days, a large multi-day annual event that attracts over 50,000 people, was the first event to implement this vendor policy.

Capitalizing on this success, we contacted more event promoters with tremendous success.  Kennedy & Associates, one of the largest outdoor event promoters in the county, instituted our policy, resulting in the addition of 14 fairs and events with attendance of over 500,000 people.  We shared this policy and strategy with colleagues and were subsequently featured in Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s (CADCA) publication “The Coalition Impact: Environmental Prevention Strategies.” As of 2014, most of the fairs and festivals in North San Diego County have instituted our policy, including the San Diego County Fair. As of today, this policy affects over 2 million people. In 2016, the State of California voted to legalize the use of marijuana. Because of this we needed to revise our policy. It now states,  Any tobacco, tobacco/drug paraphernalia or any item that promotes the use of any federally illicit drug including marijuana is prohibited from being sold.