L.A. City Council President Recommends Suspending Phase 3 of Cannabis Permitting

Amid a public outcry over the process to select the latest round of authorized cannabis retail permits, L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson has sent a letter to the head of the city’s Department of Cannabis Regulation suggesting the current phase be suspended.

The California Minority Alliance, who worked with the city to draft the social equity program, have been most vocal in their frustration over the process.

“The people of South Los Angeles will not be victimized again. The revolution will be televised. I’m a nonviolent person, 100%. But when you leave people in desperate situations … desperate things happen. If they don’t change it [the process], it will be burnt down ”

Donnie Anderson, a co-founder of the California Minority Alliance

The issues revolve around certain individuals having their applications accepted prior to the official filing time the application could be submitted.

Virgil Grant, a longtime L.A. marijuana businessman who was one of the earliest proponents of social equity, criticized the licensing process for allowing Armenian residents to get in front of local African-American residents for the coveted 100 MJ retail permits.

“As long as I’ve lived here, I never met one Armenian” in Compton, where Grant has lived most of his life, he said. “How is it that a majority of the first 100 names are Armenian?”