Berkeley Patients Care Collective

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he planned to pardon simple marijuana possession and urged local governors to do the same.

In a city with a history of advocacy for marijuana legalization and decriminalization, the pre-dawn ribbon-cutting ceremony at Berkeley Patients Group was a victory celebration of what has been decades of activism and lobbying efforts by many in the community.

Berkeley's been blazing a trail for legalized cannabis use for decades, and now — with the passage of Proposition 64 last year — residents will soon be able to buy and use marijuana recreationally in the city.

After almost three hours of presentations and public comment at its full-capacity Tuesday regular meeting, Berkeley City Council voted to award permits to Berkeley Compassionate Care Center and The Apothecarium that will allow them to operate medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

After months of legal dispute over the Forty Acres Medical Marijuana Growers Collective, which caused it to relocate in April, it filed a lawsuit against the city on April 20 alleging discrimination against the collective.