Sacramento’s first social equity cannabis dispensary opens

A new cannabis dispensary that opened Monday is the first in a city program designed to give Sacramento residents affected by the war on drugs an opportunity to legally sell marijuana to customers.

Personal trainer Robert Jackson is the majority partner in the new business at 6233 Mack Road in South Sacramento, one of 10 applicants approved by Sacramento city officials in the spring of 2021 to open dispensaries as part of the city’s social equity efforts.

Jackson, who is 62, said in his application that when cannabis was illegal he had been “pulled over by the pretext that the officer smelled cannabis when none is present and stopped on other occasions for simply being in a high drug area. I have a family member that was arrested and jailed for having less than an ounce of cannabis.”

But a reality for Jackson — and most of the other approved dispensary applicants —is that a program aimed at disadvantaged mom-and-pop operators also provides a back door fro much larger cannabis operators to expand their empire.

Successful cannabis entrepreneur Lauren Carpenter, who owns five other dispensaries in Northern California, has provided the bulk of the $1 million plus funding for Jackson’s new Sacramento business and is the second owner of the business.

Embarc Sacramento adds to a dispensary chain that has locations in South Lake Tahoe, Fairfield, Alameda, Fresno, Martinez and a planned location in Chico. [Read more @ The Sacramento Bee]