Comments420 FILE--It wasn’t surprising to receive another notice about the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (LA DCR) canceling its next Cannabis Regulation Commission meeting, on the heels of the teleconference mess on October 8.
Although meetings of the Commission are scheduled to be held on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 2 p.m., the calendar is never followed. Eighteen meetings have been cancelled in 2020.
Questions for the Commission and its Executive Director go unanswered within the current meeting structure. Folks dial into the meeting to participate in public comment, and neither the Committee nor its Executive Director offer any direct responses to these comments.
As the next meeting is scheduled for November 5th, 2020, conducting it in a “town hall” manner, where stakeholders can raise issues and receive a direct response from the Commission and its Executive Director, will improve communication.
A dramatic rethinking of how stakeholders are represented is requisite to fulfilling the promise of Los Angeles becoming the world’s largest cannabis market. Our future depends on it, and present leadership must be held accountable to enact solutions for our shared mission of success.
The Los Angeles City Council will vote on October 20 whether to move committee jurisdiction on all matters relating to cannabis oversight -- including the Social Equity Program -- from the Rules Committee to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee. October 20 at 2 p.m. is also the kickoff for LA DCR to start processing “The LA 100” invoiced social equity applicants of Phase 3/Round One who will have waited over 399 days since the application window closed for licensed retail storefronts.
Our voices not only need to be heard but answered.
(Gary Mittin is a commercial real estate broker, specializing in cannabis real estate.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
