Fresno leaders have failed the voters when it comes to legal marijuana and social equity

News of the state awarding millions in cannabis tax revenues to the Fresno Police Department hit home with painful irony. In his Dec. 23rd column, “Did Fresno police get $2M grant from legal marijuana,” Marek Warzsawki described an important dynamic at play in local cannabis business licensing: lack of access.

“...Fresno’s first legal pot shops didn’t open until July — 2½ years after the council and then-Mayor Lee Brand, in January 2020, compromised on a retail sales ordinance.” Such delay characterizes the local and statewide rollout, and it ignores the will of voters.

An even sharper irony can be found in the city’s approach to social equity licensing, and it cuts to the bone. Of the hundreds of applicants to have participated in two rounds of applications since 2020, only three social equity businesses have been licensed. None has opened its doors.

This is unacceptable. The social equity component of marijuana legalization in California should no longer be given second-class treatment by local officials. The state needs to step in because we’re not alone. More than half of cities and counties statewide lack access to legal cannabis for medicinal or recreational use, and agencies everywhere are struggling to implement successful social equity programs.

The importance of these investments cannot be overstated. Gauging social inequity by simply calculating the advantages awarded some at birth underestimates the magnitude of society’s growing crisis of economic segregation and despair. The obstacles placed before people seeking financial opportunity and security for their families are just as important to consider. Perhaps more so.

For generations the hyper-policing and incarceration of young men of color living in low income areas created an atmosphere of occupation and apartheid. For them this country’s promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has been supplanted by experiencing or bearing witness to death, imprisonment and persecution. Wealth has not been allowed to accumulate in neighborhoods characterized by exploitation and segregation; opportunity is a faint glimmer for most.

One small step toward remediating these impacts is California’s effort to invest in social equity programs funded by the tax revenue from legal cannabis sales. The connection is obvious to most: invest in small business startups rather than police forces, county jails or state prisons, and do so in those neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.

Fresno, like cities and counties throughout the state, has been struggling for several years now to license standard and social equity cannabis businesses alike. Despite an October 2022 deadline, only two out of the 20 dispensary license holders issued since September 2021 have opened their doors, and both are in north Fresno.

For social equity applicants, many of the same old hurdles are still in place: access to capital, suitable locations and technical support. More subtle hurdles have emerged, too, such as disqualifications based on technicalities, unclear regulations, an opaque evaluation process and arbitrary decision-making by unseen bureaucrats.

Improvement is possible. Two years ago the state began direct licensing of cannabis delivery services to address almost identical problems, over the objections of the Clovis City Council.

In Fresno, we are five years into this process with very little to show for it. State licensing of cannabis operations of every type should begin immediately, particularly where local agencies cannot or will not create the opportunities for social equity applicants.

California voters overwhelmingly support cannabis legalization for medicinal and recreational use. Four years ago Fresno voters said yes to retail outlets by a margin of more than two to one with Measure A to allow dispensaries here.

If local politicians can’t or won’t honor the will of the people, intervention by the California Department of Cannabis Control is fully warranted.

Gidai Maaza, Cesar CasaMayor & Shawn Robinson are co-founders of The People’s Fresno LLC. Robinson is also a social equity applicant.