In the wake of California’s legalization of recreational-use cannabis, many cities — including Los Angeles — put in place programs designed to help budding cannabis entrepreneurs who had been unduly affected by the war on drugs get a leg up in the legal weed scene. L.A.’s program attempted to right past wrongs by considering three factors when awarding new cultivation, manufacturing and retail (dispensary) licenses: prior marijuana-related arrests, income level and the length of time living in an area of the city disproportionately affected by cannabis convictions.
The keyword here is “attempted,” because from the moment the application-filing process for the first 100 new dispensary licenses opened in September 2019, the city program has been a clown car careening off a cliff thanks to computer glitches, backlogs and charges of mismanagement at the city’s Department of Cannabis Regulation. It all came to a head in 2020 with a well-publicized lawsuit that resulted in L.A. adding a second batch of 100 social equity dispensary licenses to the mix — all before any had even opened. In the meantime, those with cash on hand, established investor connections or family funds had been operating pot shops throughout L.A. and cashing in on the green rush. Finally, in April 2021, nearly 20 months after the city started accepting applications, the first social equity dispensaries opened.
A year later, we now have a new understanding of which social equity applicants successfully navigated the process, from application to ribbon-cutting, and their experiences competing in a city that’s become the center of weed culture. Alas, it has been anything but easy. There’s universal agreement among these dispensary owners that the regulatory hoops, high tax rates and lack of resources make it hard to survive and thrive — even for those lucky enough to have cleared the licensing hurdles.
That’s why these trailblazers are adamant they didn’t get to this point alone. Behind each is an army of allies: attorneys, investors, partners and family members who helped them get from pipe dream to opening day. Even though their names are a matter of public record, not every program beneficiary was keen to share their story with The Times. Several of those contacted demurred, citing privacy, safety or lingering stigma as concerns. But those we did talk to were still optimistic despite their challenging journeys.
Aja Allen, Sixty Four & Hope Mid-City
Allen, an exotic dancer-turned-phlebotomist-turned luxury retail manager, was working her way up the ranks at the Cabazon Outlets near Palm Springs when her tax attorney said something that changed the trajectory of her career. “He saw the progress I was making,” Allen said, “working my way up to district manager, and he was like: ‘You went from being a sales associate to making some good money. Now what are you going to do?’ And that’s when he told me about what Karim Webb was doing.” (Webb is the chief executive of 4thMVMT, an L.A.-based company that provides training and financial support to social equity applicants. To date, the company has forged partnerships with dozens of cannabis entrepreneurs — including more than a dozen in the first group of 100 to receive dispensary licenses.)
She was already familiar with Webb’s name, she said, because he’d been responsible for bringing a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise to her neighborhood. “I grew up in South Central, and a lot of stuff would pop up and then close down within a year. So when a Buffalo Wild Wings opened, it was good for the community — for our community.”
After being introduced to the concept of the social equity program and how 4thMVMT was trying to help applicants open dispensaries under the Sixty Four & Hope nameplate (the numbers refer to Proposition 64, which legalized recreational weed), it didn’t take her…
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