To repair the harm done by the war on drugs, black people in low-income communities were told they'd get a leg up in the newly legal cannabis marketplace. But in LA, the process has been frustrating and slow.
Marcy Lyles, a single mother of three boys, has been trying to break into the cannabis business for a while now.
It’s been more than two years since the Los Angeles City Council passed its first ordinances regulating the newly legal cannabis business, and still, no social equity licenses have been granted.“We’re sitting here and we are really begging,” said Lyles, 46, wiping away tears. “They said they were going to protect us. We accepted the offer. But I’m losing faith in my city. They don’t care about us. It’s terrible.
“I came back here because I was proud L.A. was offering this opportunity for me to be an entrepreneur,” Sobers said. “For the last six months, no one has been responsive. So it makes me wonder, was this ever real?”Yes, it’s real and it will happen, vowed Cat Packer, the city’s cannabis czar. Packer is sensitive to these complaints. She is responsible for implementing the city’s byzantine, ever-changing cannabis policy, including its social equity program.
In April, the city began vetting would-be cannabis entrepreneurs who want to apply for licenses under the social equity program. Packer has held five workshops, which have drawn about 1,500 people.Applicants must be low-income, live in designated neighborhoods and/or have been convicted of a cannabis- related crime that is no longer illegal. Once they are vetted, they will be able to apply for businesses licenses, which will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, starting Sept. 3.
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