L.A.’s ‘social equity’ program for cannabis licenses under scrutiny

Los Angeles city program crafted to ensure that cannabis sales licenses go to people from communities most harmed by the war on drugs has been hailed as a kind of reckoning with historic injustice.

It was designed with a lofty goal: Ensure that people affected by the government’s crackdown on the illicit drug trade become business owners in this emerging industry.

But the city’s “social equity program” is under renewed scrutiny over whether the initiative is fulfilling its promise.

The latest controversy centers around 4thMVMT, a company founded by a well-to-do businessman who partners with Black entrepreneurs to obtain cannabis licenses. The company positioned itself as one of the program’s biggest winners by partnering with at least 13 of the applicants scheduled to receive temporary approval this week to start operating after meeting certain conditions.

An attorney who reviewed one of 4thMVMT’s partnership contracts has raised alarms over what she says are “predatory” business practices baked into the agreements. Meanwhile, competitors of 4thMVMT have seized on the contract language to attack the company.

Los Angeles city program crafted to ensure that cannabis sales licenses go to people from communities most harmed by the war on drugs has been hailed as a kind of reckoning with historic injustice.

It was designed with a lofty goal: Ensure that people affected by the government’s crackdown on the illicit drug trade become business owners in this emerging industry. [Read More @ The LA Times]