Oakland’s New Cannabis Industry is on its Way

The city of Oakland had been working on doling out a groundbreaking new way of giving back to the communities that have been racially profiled and disparately affected by the “war on drugs” for nearly a year. This week, they have finally come to an agreement and understanding on exactly how to do this.

Back in November, we wrote on Oakland’s Dispensary Equity Permit Program, which was aimed at reversing the harm to disadvantaged communities that the “war on drugs” has caused in the city. But in that initial program breakdown, there were a lot of issues that caused major disagreements in the city, and in the council.

On Tuesday night, the council voted to revise the equity program that sets aside half of the cannabis business permits for ex-convicts that meet narrow requirements and for people living within a small amount of police beats in East Oakland. The council added more police beats to the list, including areas of West Oakland, Fruitvale and other parts of East Oakland. Residents of those areas must have lived at least 10 of the past 20 years there to qualify for a permit, another change to the initial laws approved last year.

The city is also earmarking $3.4 million in cannabis business license tax revenue and $200,000 to hire a consultant to aid in the creation of an assistance program which will offer no-interest loans and other assistance to help equity permit holders open their business. When the assistance program is complete and ready—once it reaches that $3 million goal—the equity applicants getting the reserved 50% of the permits will end, and there won’t be any restrictions on who can get a license.

People who are not eligible for an equity permit but want a general permit can speed up the process by offering free rent or real estate to an equity applicant. What constitutes an equity applicant also drastically changed at Tuesday night’s meeting, including the larger number of qualifying neighborhoods, the number of years an applicant will have to have been living in those neighborhoods, and the applicant’s income has requirements also. Applicants are required to have lived in one or a combination of the neighborhoods for 10 of the last 20 years, and their current income must be below 80 percent of the city’s average median income. They can also qualify if they were arrested in Oakland and convicted on a cannabis-related offense in the last two decades.

Of course, some are worried that longtime Oakland businesses, whose owners aren’t considered equity applicants, won’t be able to get their operating permits ahead of the deadline in order to continue operating under new state regulations. These new rules could deter future business owners from expanding into the Oakland area, including some improvements for the city. But many believe this is a great step in the right direction of changing who has the money and power in these communities, and that this is a solid effort in helping to change the status quo.

“The data shows that for over two decades, black and brown residents were arrested and incarcerated for drug offenses at disparately high rates, while largely white cannabis cultivators, manufacturers and distributors who were not operating entirely above board either, flourished under changing laws designed to accommodate the burgeoning industry,” City of Oakland Race and Equity Director Darlene Flynn told the East Bay Times.