Presenting Possibilities

Now that the future of recreational cannabis in California will prove to be the most profitable of any recreational cannabis state yet, cities and counties everywhere are making considerations on how to cash in on the profits.

During a regular meeting of the Arvin City Council on February 7, the council invited Cannabis Compliance Director at HdL Companies, David McPherson, to give a presentation on the future possibilities of recreational cannabis businesses in the city.

CULTURE was able to speak with McPherson about his presentation to the Arvin City Council. McPherson shared that city officials reached out to his company after Prop. 64 passed because they wanted more insight into the possibility of regulating indoor cannabis cultivation. The council wanted to take the proactive approach in considering whether recreational cannabis cultivation was an important topic to discuss with the community.

“Arvin City Council gave the administration direction to go ahead and pursue doing some sort of stakeholder meetings with the community, specifically though that their interests were primarily on cultivation, not necessarily any of the other types of [cannabis business] activities.”

McPherson educated the council during his presentation on all aspects of the impacts that legal cannabis will have and has had in California. The presentation started by covering paradigm shifts and cultural changes, highlighting how cannabis decriminalization has been changing the public’s perception of the plant for the past 20 years.

Some of the most important topics covered in the presentation gave the council and community insight into the regulations of California’s Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA) and Prop. 64. McPherson shared what local controls communities hold, as well as challenges communities often face. Public consumption, banking issues, taxes, state and local licensing and permitting, projected profits and other valuable insight was all provided to the Arvin City Council throughout McPherson’s thorough presentation.

Following McPherson’s very informative presentation, the council decided to take the next step toward creating a regulatory framework for cannabis cultivation. “Arvin City Council gave the administration direction to go ahead and pursue doing some sort of stakeholder meetings with the community, specifically though that their interests were primarily on cultivation, not necessarily any of the other types of [cannabis business] activities,” McPherson stated. “They wanted to focus on that since they are an agriculture community, and their environment is more focused on agriculture, without having any other dispensaries or [other types of cannabis businesses] in town.”

McPherson’s company, HdL Companies, specializes in cannabis consulting services in California. He explained how instrumental his company has been for many communities across The Golden State. “We represent 400 cities and counties in California, and we have right now about 60 or 70 of our clients that have requested us to help them at some level evaluating their situations . . .”

HdL Companies helped communities get 12 measures on the November 2016 ballot. Among other accomplishments, HdL Companies has done about 30 workshops where they shared information with local governments, like Arvin, that were looking into the possibility of regulating cannabis on some level.