The San Diego City Council adopted a cannabis equity assessment, paving the way for a city program that aims to help minority entrepreneurs gain a foothold in the legal cannabis industry.
In preparing San Diego's equity assessment, the city's Cannabis Business Division analyzed arrest records dating back to 1989. It found, unsurprisingly, that Black and Latino residents were disproportionately criminalized under cannabis prohibition. Yet many of those people have been excluded from the legal cannabis industry, which the report found is overwhelmingly white.
"Those with the most resources were able to rush through and start hoarding the profits (from legalization), all while folks were still chained down by the actions of the past," said Council President Sean Elo-Rivera. "This is simply an attempt to — not even level the playing field but make it a little bit more level."
Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe was an early champion of bringing a cannabis equity program to San Diego but said she faced resistance from the administration of former Mayor Kevin Faulconer. She said that while the equity assessment wasn't perfect, it's a prerequisite for receiving state-grant funding to help implement an equity program.
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