XPost: soc.culture.african.american, talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: drooler@gmail.com   
      
   Oakland Cannabis Sellers, Once Full of Hope, Face a Harsh Reality   
   The cannabis industry, designed in part to help communities upended by the   
   war on drugs, is being threatened by theft, racism and a market that is   
   stacked against small operators.   
      
   Armed security is one of the big costs of doing business for many cannabis   
   dispensaries in Oakland, Calif., including Blunts and Moore. Credit...   
      
   By Michael CorkeryPhotographs by Jim Wilson   
   March 15, 2022   
      
   OAKLAND, Calif. — Across from where the Athletics play baseball sits a   
   two-story concrete building painted bright orange and white. It is home to   
   a cannabis dispensary called Blunts and Moore.   
      
   A pair of inflatable “tube guys” flap crazily on the roof, beckoning   
   customers with their windblown gyrations. A food truck sells tacos in the   
   parking lot under a bright California sun.   
      
   But there are signs that all is not well here. Bullet holes etched by an   
   assault rifle dot the entrance. Three security guards, dressed in military   
   fatigues, screen customers as they pass through a metal detector. One of   
   the guards, a former infantryman, wears a camouflage Kevlar vest and   
   mirrored sunglasses. A 9-millimeter pistol and 50 rounds of ammunition are   
   strapped to his waist.   
      
   “It’s crazy to think we need all this war stuff to protect our business,”   
   said the store’s owner, Alphonso Blunt, who is known as Tucky. “But that’s   
   where we are today.”   
      
   In May 2020, Blunts and Moore was ransacked by thieves with automatic   
   weapons, incurring losses of nearly $1 million, much of which insurance   
   would not cover. The store, which has the air of a high-end boutique, was   
   robbed again in late November, its shelves cleared and the floor speckled   
   with blood from where the thieves had cut their hands on all the smashed   
   glass. Struggling financially, Mr. Blunt turned to his landlord for a   
   rescue but had to give up some managerial control of the store.   
      
   This is not what Mr. Blunt, the City of Oakland or the State of California   
   had in mind for an ambitious effort to help grow a cannabis industry and   
   provide financial opportunity to struggling neighborhoods with a large   
   number of Black and Hispanic residents.   
      
   The city’s social equity initiative is designed to help entrepreneurs like   
   Alphonso Blunt, who was arrested for a nonviolent cannabis offense in   
   2005. He was granted an equity license in 2018 by the city to run his   
   dispensary, Blunts and Moore.   
      
   Mr. Blunt is among the entrepreneurs in Oakland, many of whom are Black,   
   who were granted equity licenses to run cannabis businesses after   
   California legalized the substance for recreational use in 2016.   
   Applicants who live in areas that had a high number of drug-related   
   arrests or who have a cannabis-related arrest record are given priority to   
   receive the licenses.   
      
   Race has often been at the heart of the movement to legalize cannabis.   
   Some states legalized the drug largely to stop the cannabis-related   
   arrests that disproportionately ensnared Black and Hispanic people. But   
   there has also been a push by lawmakers in states like California,   
   Illinois and New Jersey to ensure that those same communities can profit   
   from the legalized industry, which has been largely dominated by white   
   owners, some of whom have made a fortune on cannabis.   
      
   On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced that the state   
   planned to give its first cannabis retail licenses to people who had been   
   convicted of a cannabis crime or their relatives.   
      
   Oakland was one of the first cities to prioritize equity licenses for   
   those like Mr. Blunt, 42, who got teased in high school because his name   
   is a common term for a cannabis cigar. In 2005, he was arrested and   
   accused of possessing several small bags of the drug.   
      
   The nation’s emerging cannabis industry is being shaped by the broader   
   push for racial justice and the belief that creating business   
   opportunities for Black individuals will help lift communities.   
      
   But interviews with more than 30 cannabis business owners, investors and   
   regulators in California, an early adopter of equity licenses, show how   
   the hope of fixing historical wrongs is being challenged by the reality of   
   an industry facing troubled business conditions, including issues like   
   high taxes and volatile sales.   
      
   Billy Martin, left, helping a customer at Blunts and Moore. The store has   
   been robbed at least twice, one of those times by assailants with   
   automatic weapons.   
      
   Some of the problems are being exacerbated by conflicting state and   
   federal policies. Even as 18 states have legalized the substance for   
   recreational use, the federal government still prohibits it.   
      
   That means cannabis stores are limited in their access to federally   
   regulated banking services, such as credit cards. Forced to deal largely   
   in cash, the businesses can be a tantalizing target for thieves.   
      
   The federal prohibition also makes it difficult to obtain bank financing   
   or small-business loans, forcing some Black social equity applicants to   
   enter deals with investors who sometimes end up controlling the business.   
      
   Another challenge is policing. Some say the police in Oakland, at times,   
   have not switched their mind-set from arresting cannabis dealers to   
   protecting their legal businesses. During a wave of robberies late last   
   year, the police never showed up to some of the crimes, business owners   
   say. The police say a surge in crime during the pandemic has stretched   
   their resources.   
      
   Insurance companies are also adding to the challenges. Some owners said   
   their claims were denied even though their policies indicated they would   
   be covered. Others said they believe they were treated unfairly during the   
   claims process because they were Black.   
      
   “You are giving licenses to people who would struggle in any industry, but   
   in cannabis, the deck is further stacked against them,” said John Hudak,   
   deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the   
   Brookings Institution. “States need to do a better job adjusting for the   
   structural racism built into the system.”   
      
   Since the initiative began in 2017, Oakland has granted cannabis licenses   
   to 282 equity applicants and 328 non-equity applicants. But the city does   
   not keep an ongoing tally of how many of those businesses are currently   
   operating.   
      
   “While not a panacea, this program is a meaningful step toward embedding   
   fairness and justice in all we do to improve conditions for communities of   
   color,” Greg Minor, an assistant to the city administrator, said in an   
   email. Amid the industry’s struggles, Mr. Minor said, the state recently   
   authorized a $5.4 million grant to support Oakland’s equity program and   
   was considering reducing the cannabis taxes.   
      
   But for Mr. Blunt, legalization has not produced the boon some might   
   expect. Since he opened his licensed store four years ago, Mr. Blunt has   
   yet to generate a profit.   
      
      
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