On June 16, 2020, the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation sent proposed ordinance amendments to the Los Angeles City Council regarding the licensing process for commercial cannabis businesses.  Many of these changes will be well received by the industry, but some of the DCR’s new recommendations would create additional problems for the cannabis industry in the City, and could have negative side effects exceeding any benefits.  These recommendations are based on our many years of experience representing clients in the cannabis industry and advocating for cannabis policy reform.

It is the Department’s position that immediate and comprehensive amendments are necessary for a more responsible and equitable Licensing and Social Equity Program. The Department of Cannabis Regulation is seeking to improve the administration of the City’s commercial cannabis Licensing and Social Equity Program through a proposed comprehensive reorganization and revision to Article 4, Chapter X of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (Cannabis Procedures Ordinance).

This paper argues that the criminalization of drugs, via the criteria the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] uses to put drugs into different schedules, is illegitimate on scientific and philosophical grounds. The most contemporary developments in the study of drug use and drug addiction, undermine the legitimacy of the FDA scheme (as embodied in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970); these developments suggest that addiction to a drug is a result, not a cause, of the psychological difficulties a person may be experiencing while using the drug(s).

Oh, wow, it is a strange time. It has been all year. Rough is an understatement. Like many, I share the seemingly oil-and-vinegar sentiments of being grateful and being frustrated. I’m grateful that I’m alive, that I’m working at all, and that I can work from home. Yet natural human social inclinations are being unnaturally inhibited.

Current conversations on police use of force and brutality, otherwise known as retaliation measures, have been circulating among many social and political spheres. An essential part of participating in a protest movement is understanding the difference between looting and burglary, as it has been in previous discussions related to civil unrest. Both crimes consist of the same elements, and bear the same potential sentences, but are treated as two completely different crimes. 

On a conference call with governors, Trump used the word “dominate” on how to deal with the civil unrest throughout the country. ( https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-united-states-governors-weak-dominate-protest-civil-unrest/ ) This completely misses the point, lacks leadership, and is dangerous.