SouthernCaliforniaCoalition

By Joseph Pimentel  | December 2, 2020   ORANGE COUNTY — Strapped for cash, some Orange County cities are turning to a green source to help make up budget shortfalls from the coronavirus catalyzed downturn. A month after the election, four cities are now allowing or expanding their existing cannabis operations at a time when the global pandemic has hit city revenue hard.   Last month, the Fullerton City Council approved five retail dispensaries and other cannabis...

By Michael R. Blood  | October 20, 2020   LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two marijuana trade organizations filed a lawsuit Monday against the nation’s largest legal pot market over restrictions on stand-alone delivery services that have blocked them from obtaining licenses until 2025. The lawsuit against Los Angeles and its Department of Cannabis Regulation seeks to overturn rules enacted earlier this year that postponed the availability of those licenses for certain businesses, even though broad legal sales began in the state in January...

By Betsy Pisik  | July 13, 2020 “I knew Prop 64 would pass, and that was fine with me,” recalls Rev. James K. McKnight, Pastor of the Congregationalist Church of Christian Fellowship in South Central Los Angeles, where low-level cannabis convictions are among the highest in the state. “The law promised social equity, social justice, second chances.” But no one told him it was going to take years to take effect. Californians had high expectations when they overwhelmingly voted in 2016 to...

By Emily Alpert Reyes | July 1, 2020 Los Angeles is revamping its rules for handing out licenses to cannabis businesses, amid anger and disappointment over the tumultuous rollout of a program meant to address the damage done by criminalizing marijuana.   The rules passed unanimously Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council tighten the criteria for new applicants seeking to qualify for the “social equity” program, which is supposed to ensure that people from communities hit hardest by the war on drugs...

By Dean Boerner | April 21, 2020 Between a capital crunch, a vaping controversy and now the coronavirus shutdowns, the cannabis industry is at a juncture that could reshape its property market. Before both “vapegate” and the economic slowdown, the recent series of troubles for cannabis began when valuations entered a steep descent, making capital availability a serious issue. Now, the totality of challenges is “crystallizing a distinction between the haves and have nots,” according to Richard Acosta, CEO of Inception REIT,...

By Emily Alpert Reyes | March 31, 2020   A newly released audit found that although some cannabis entrepreneurs got into Los Angeles’ application system ahead of time, the city took “reasonable and appropriate” steps to prevent them from having any unfair advantage.   An L.A. official is recommending, in light of those findings, that the Department of Cannabis Regulation press forward with processing and awarding licenses for new retailers, which had been suspended last year amid concerns about fairness.   Auditors found that the department...