Since the passage of Proposition 64 and Measure M, the residents of Los Angeles who have been impacted by the War on Drugs have been waiting to see equity, justice, and repair. They were hopeful that some of this would come from the social equity program that was laid out along with recreational/adult-use cannabis legalization and the rise of the cannabis industry in LA.
However, the City of LA has yet to fund the program, and the cannabis tax revenues that should be allocated to social equity and community reinvestment are in danger of being allocated to the LA Police Department – the same department that has arrested hundreds of thousands of people for cannabis offenses over the last century.
Activists such as Kristen Lovell and Felicia Carbajal have been pushing hard for equality here through organizations such as Equity First Alliance and the Social Impact Center. Alongside several others, they even helped organize protests during SXSW’s inaugural “Cannabusiness” track this year.
Carbajal said, “Social justice and equity was supposed to be the moral compass for the cannabis industry in Los Angeles. We, the voices of Equity First Alliance LA, represent that voice and…