Cannabis and the Oakland 2020 Elections

As the nation is gripped by the historical presidential race, a local struggle of complex politics in Oakland exists, and unfortunately cannabis has been left out. Understandably the focus has been to challenge the rise of Trump’s neo-populist conservatism that has damaged constitutional norms. While excitement does exists for Cannabis nationally, with Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota legalizing recreational cannabis, and Mississippi and South Dakota legalizing medical marijuana. In Oakland, California the diciest controversy was Rebecca Kaplan, City Councilmember At- Large, the most powerful politician in Oakland besides the mayor, was being challenged by Oakland native Derreck B. Johnson. In September Lyft donated $100,000 to Derreck B. Johnson, part of a larger support for Prop 22 and normalizing gig workers, but Derreck came in second and Kaplan held her position. North Oakland District One, incumbent Dan Kalb won without much opposition. West Oakland, District 3 had a serious race between incumbent Lynette Gibson McElhaney and challenger Carroll Fife, with Fife bringing in a win, receiving strong AFL-CIO, BLM and housing activists support. Incumbent Noel Gallo won Fruitvale District 5, with deep roots in the community. Long time Councilmember Larry Reid retired from District 7, deep East Oakland, with five new candidates in motion, with Treva Reid making a win. The noticeable facts is all the candidates, winner or not, did not have cannabis as a political priority in their program.

Oakland is a pioneer in the Cannabis industry, whether it was developing medical cannabis under SB 420 allowing for Harborside, Magnolia, and Phytologie to form, or recreational cannabis under prop 64, licensing more cannabis businesses than any other city. Oakland started licensing cannabis businesses before most California cities, instituting the very first equity cannabis program in the world, helping those who have suffered damages from the war on drugs. Unfortunately, the older dispensaries agreed with Oakland City Council with having high cannabis taxes, since at the time there were so few dispensaries. As the industry matured, neighboring cities established lower cannabis taxes than Oakland, such as San Francisco, and the illicit market made headway by avoiding taxes and regulations. It forces us to reanalyze the given tax system. With a new election, and new politicians in Oakland, it is also time to renew the issue of Cannabis in Oakland. 

Oakland’s equity program is a model to overcome the racist damages on the war on drugs, a monumental goal in character. Oakland’s equity program offers incubation with three years of free rent. Some have been able to really build a successful business from such advantages, but many have not, as the costs of business, a highly regulated system, and heavy tax burden have left many equity cannabis businesses underdeveloped at best. It is important we constantly encourage the seven city council members to engage the cannabis businesses in their district, lower the cannabis tax rates, and specifically support the equity businesses trying to make it. 

Many organizations have formed focused on cannabis policy such as the National Cannabis Industry Association “NCIA,” the California Cannabis Industry Association “CCIA,” Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws “NORMAL,” Bay Area Latino Cannabis Alliance, “BALCA,” This is Our Dream, LA Equity, Oakland Citizens for Equity & Prosperity “OCEP”, etc., but still the layer of Cannabis operators involved in political action is limited. If cannabis operators, CEOs, accountants, attorneys, drivers, budtenders, floor managers, were to get involved, the creation of a coordinated pressure to city council to lower the city tax could take place, as well as adding pressure to your state senator to lower the state tax. With coordination, we can influence state, county and city policies towards friendly cannabis policies, something really needed in California. 

If the anxiety of facing an undemocratic rightwing movement is enough to take action, let us not take our local and state democratic system for granted. We have enough skilled people in the cannabis industry to build really dynamic teams to make such changes. Coordinated pressure towards City Council, County Officials and State Officials is the energy we need to change policy for our industry. But a few loud activists is not enough. We need to show up with numbers, and be willing to sway politicians towards the correct direction with such numbers, unified by a vision. With a handful of dedicated organizers in each city, across the state, we would have a powerful network to institute some real change. Entrepreneurs have energy capturing market share, we must also apply such energy to change policies that allow the market to grow to its real potential.