[dropcap size=big]O[/dropcap]n Friday night, I was hanging out in a Long Beach warehouse full of budding cannabis entrepreneurs, medical marijuana patients, and consumers at an End of Cannabis Prohibition Party, hosted by Latinos for Cannabis (L4C). The event was called to mark the end of an era in which recreational weed sales are no longer prohibited by California law.
That occurs today, with the implementation of actions by voters — with Proposition 64, or the 2016 Adult-Use of Marijuana Act — as well as legislators, with the 2017 Medical and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act. Implementation, I should say, at least on paper.
As the commercial cannabis legal kick-off approached, there was definitely a lot of celebration filling the room and our lungs. But there was also a healthy dose of caution, especially when talking about what legal weed can mean for communities of color. Latinos for Cannabis is community group dedicated to bridging the gaps for communities hard-hit by the war on drugs, in terms of information about cannabis but also opportunities in the industry, which has had a rough and complicated history in our state.
There won’t be any official adult-use shops open today, January 1st, inside Los Angeles city limits.
“It’s an exciting moment,” said Maribel Garcia, a budtender and manager at California Caregivers Alliance in Silver Lake for more than seven years. “But the fact is, the end of prohibition will be a positive change for our communities only if we keep working together, keep informed, and keep involved.”