Why is LA's cannabis industry devastating black entrepreneurs?

[Ol’Otis]

high this rent is

 

[Armchair Militant]

Evelyn and Brandon Brinson, both 33, downsized their home and sold a car to finance their planned marijuana business. Evelyn also sold an insurance agency she had run, and Brandon who is a barber, stopped paying rent for space at a shop. “Our whole life savings are in this project,” said Evelyn.

On a recent afternoon, the couple showed the Guardian around the still vacant store they had rent to house their dispensary. They pointed to empty glass shelves and the display counters that would feature their products. They estimate they have lost more than $200,000 on the endeavor.

Their application is number 200 on the list, and they don’t think they can hold on much longer.

Just knowing the data.... it’s gonna be hard for black folks to compete in this space.

 

[newworldafro]

They mean it metaphorically.....the social equity program was suppose to ensure a decent market share for blacks in LA.......for people who come from areas most affected by the war on drugs.

So if an Armenian moves to said area, he can just claim it that way? Is that what they are doing? Moving from Glendale to Inglewood?

So Fuucked up, if black businesses/entrepreneurs aren't benefitting and getting these licenses.

I'd be forming like a Johnny Cochran Voltron of black attorneys, and looking like .. "Yall got about 6 months to get this right or we gone sue the BeJesus outta everybody".

 

[King Poetic]

Motherfukkers don’t care about blacks in LA no more cause overall we have no power outside of Maxine Waters when it comes to politics and what we need

just keep supplying our own with product

 

[Bigen King]

This crop wasn’t legalized so black entrepreneurs could make money in the cannabis business. I just went through a program offering equity to minorities in the cannabis industry, only to find out the politics behind it still won’t allow us to open a clean money cannabis business.

Most of these big cities in Cali offer these type of equity programs per the legislation yet 98 percent of the businesses are owned and operated by whites.

 

[FeloniousMonk]

The legal cali market is about to implode and I hope it does to keep it a buck. Let those corporations in the game go bankrupt and we can start back from scratch with an open market and no license caps.

Underground cloud sessions FTW!!!

 

[10bandz]

So if an Armenian moves to said area, he can just claim it that way? Is that what they are doing? Moving from Glendale to Inglewood?

So Fuucked up, if black businesses/entrepreneurs aren't benefitting and getting these licenses.

I'd be forming like a John a Cochran Voltron of black attorneys, and looking like .. "Yall got about 6 months to get this right or we gone sue the BeJesus outta everybody".

i dont think they are moving anywhere. I think they finessed Hollywood into the list on neighborhoods eligible for social equity. But i think some people are just claiming addresses in South LA. Probably paying some breh so he can claim he lives at his crib. It's really all just corrupt.

 

[newworldafro]

This crop wasn’t legalized so black entrepreneurs could make money in the cannabis business. I just went through a program offering equity to minorities in the cannabis industry, only to find out the politics behind it still won’t allow us to open a clean money cannabis business.

Most of these big cities in Cali offer these type of equity programs per the legislation yet 98 percent of the businesses are owned and operated by whites.

Shiit just sounds corrupt.
Cotdamn.

Maybe it's a good thing, no Southern states have pulled the trigger on state legalization, just yet.

If these "liberal bastions" are still fuuking over black people in this space, then can you imagine the fukkery that would happen in the moderate/conservative South.

Black people have to got to be at the table in this. This is where going to vote matters.

 

[10bandz]

 

[re'up]

The entry cost/barrier to entry is really high. It's a shame that it's just really well connected people, mostly white, who made the most money, because of their assets and connections. I know a lot of people in that field, none are black. I made a run myself, in 2017. it was a 5 million dollar ask for the initial round, and that was just the beginning.

Man, just reading that article, those people were really ill advised to do that, but it's still a shame. We had a property secured for 1.2 million, but even if we had been able to use it (zoning technical error knocked us out of the game) the same thing could have easily happened.

This was in 2017, and the part of the city still hasn't approved ONE retail license. So, we would have essentially had to hold onto the property for 3 years, keeping even investors with long money happy, esp. in a legal gray area, would have been a nightmare.

Not to mention keeping if up to the code enforcement, costing hundreds of thousands in renovation. I am glad that deal never worked for me. But, I would have never leveraged my personal assets, that was all investor money, people with 50 ms plus in capital.

 

[Elle Driver]

As I've always said, support your neighborhood weed man.

He always come through.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

This thread is giving me De Ja Vu

 

[AJD]

Is this shyt any surprise though? Dem pig skinned crackers know what they're doin.
Set up the falsehood of "minorities will profit". In reality the minorities they were referring to were Armenians, Jews and other European- Middle eastern CAClands.

They finna let the small group of TRUE entrepreneurs funnel and waste all their funds/income (and indirectly sabotage any plans of owning a dispensary) by slotting them #500th on the waiting list.

Cacs dun set these poor folk for the okie doke and they don't even know it. Fast forward a few years and some brehs/brehettes will go broke trying to fund a business thats was rigged fromthe start (as usual). Steal, pillage, enslave, oppress and deny privilage until the scary blacks have cents to nothing. Cause if the playing fields were even then they'd flourish too much and we can't have that.
African American Wealth May Fall to Zero by 2053 - Black Enterprise.

Edit:We just gotta continue to explore other avenues.

 

[Mowgli]

Because the foundational skills needed to create a variety of trades for us to commune with arent promoted among the youth by their parents

Gotta be more imagination to black Enterprise then selling weed

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

Another day in AmeriKKKa