Former Mayor of Hawthorne Embraces the Cannabis Industry

Dr. Chris Brown, the former Mayor of Hawthorne, California, connects small communities with the tax revenue potential that comes with regulated cannabis. Dr. Brown is Chief Political Officer for The Foxx Firm, a legal group that allows companies to operate and use permits and licenses in the cannabis industry.

Dr. Brown can help businesses understand the process of compliance with local communities. “A lot of local governments have a lot of red tape to go through to get business done,” Dr. Brown told Forbes. “I understand exactly how frustrating it can be waiting on a city to pass an ordinance.”

In 2013, Dr. Brown became Hawthorne’s youngest Mayor in the city’s 91-year history.

In 2014, Dr. Brown helped Adelanto city councilman John Woodard Jr. write ordinances that would allow cannabis companies to use permits, licenses and fees. Adelanto is now home to over 30 cannabis business licenses and on track towards bringing in $10 million per year in cannabis tax revenue. Compare that to the city’s entire $12 million-dollar annual budget. Adelanto also included regulations that mandate a percentage of employees that are city residents. Dr. Brown considers Adelanto a fine example for other California communities to follow.

Rather than charging a flat fee, Dr. Brown frequently takes a cut of the business instead. For instance, Dr. Brown sealed a partnership with Speed Weed co-owner AJ Gentile, and he’ll take 8 percent of the revenue the app earns from every town Dr. Brown helps the company enter. He has a similar agreement with Green Point Group LLC.

Beyond promoting regulated cannabis, he ordered undercover cops in Hawthorne to wear body cams when on duty, to prevent further unnecessary shootings. Above anything else, Dr. Brown believes in the lucrative potential the cannabis industry posesses. With recreational cannabis on the ballot this November, and expected to pass, those opportunities to regulate cannabis may increase greatly.