KEEPING IT GREEN

The city of Lynwood, in Los Angeles County approached the moment of truth when it recently decided to approve a measure that would allow medical cannabis to be grown within the city.

The Lynwood City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance on Tuesday, December 6 with a 3-1 vote. The Lynwood City Council met again on Tuesday, December 20 and agreed to pass the ordinance. Now that Lynwood fully approves of this measure, an amendment to the current zoning code will allow commercial cannabis growers to begin producing and cultivating cannabis in specified industrial areas.

This law would also allow five different cannabis grow or manufacturing businesses to be officially licensed and permitted to operate in Lynwood. There are a few regulations established for those potential businesses, and the city requires that they be located at least 600 feet from all schools and daycares, as well as at least 50 feet from a residential area. While cultivation is allowed, it doesn’t mean that residents will be able to purchase the cannabis within city limits.

“I think there is something in the back of the ordinance that mentioned the city can come back in the future and decide to expand it to recreational, but I think they’re being conservative saying, ‘Right now we’re going with medical.’”

CULTURE connected with Aaron Herzberg of CalCann Holdings, LLC to learn more about Lynwood in addition to his current role in California’s cannabis industry. “Lynwood has not allowed any dispensaries whatsoever,” Herzberg shared. “It only allows manufacturing and cultivation in an indoor setting essentially. That doesn’t create an outlet for recreational marijuana. Lynwood’s law was to only allow for medical marijuana cultivation and medical marijuana manufacturing.”

While the city is set up to generate $5 million in annual tax revenue from these businesses, it doesn’t mean approval of medical cannabis will automatically lead to the city also embracing the recreational cannabis industry. “I think there is something in the back of the ordinance that mentioned the city can come back in the future and decide to expand it to recreational, but I think they’re being conservative saying, ‘Right now we’re going with medical,’” Herzberg said.

Herzberg and his company CalCann Holdings, LLC is active in local politics, which could be linked to their companies need to obtain local licenses in their line of work. “We’re really sort of marijuana real estate developers. We obtain licenses for marijuana facilities; we’re talking about local licenses from the cities. We obtain real estate, and it’s often times really difficult to obtain real estate for many, many reasons. It’s sort of the needle in the haystack. And we bring together the funding to acquire the real estate. That together with an operator to operate the location, we put together marijuana businesses in that way.” CalCann Holdings, LLC just recently opened up Bud and Bloom in Orange County, and they plan on continuing to advocate for California’s cannabis industries.