Embracing and regulating a complicated industry that had never been part of any government systems or oversight has been a Herculean challenge. We knew it would be difficult. Building systems from the ground up hasn’t been easy. And a big part of the problem is that people in state and local government didn’t know what they didn’t know. Just understanding the complexities of cultivation and manufacturing, in particular, has taken significant time.
In the six years since the California legislature passed the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act and the voters approved Proposition 64, legalizing cannabis for adult use, a lot has happened, but quite frankly, a lot hasn’t changed.
In 2015, my colleagues and I envisioned simple processes to encourage the industry to come out of the shadows and become a part of a regulated industry that would have significant benefits to everyone. Everything has proven far more complicated than we intended, and consequently, entrance into the regulated legal market has been much slower than expected. There is a thriving, and in some places growing, black market, which is the exact opposite of what we hoped might happen. For those who have embraced the process and managed to navigate the multiple agencies involved in licensing, I offer a big thank-you and congratulations. For those still trying to navigate what probably seems like an endless series of challenges, I ask you to please stick with it; we need you to be successful.
I fully expect that the process moving toward a market with more licensed businesses than not will take ten years.
What hasn’t changed is the destruction of wildlife habitats and sensitive watersheds by unlicensed grows. This is the reason I waded into the cannabis issue. In some areas, it’s actually worse. In the face of a historic drought, I cringe, knowing that illegal water diversions will only intensify the pressures on the environment. The wanton use of banned pesticides, poaching of game, polluting waterways, and the trashing of public and private land simply aren’t going away. I truly thought that a pathway toward a legal, regulated market would begin to change those practices, but so far it really hasn’t. There are literally thousands of abandoned grow sites that need to be cleaned up. I keep fighting for resources to do that, and I simply won’t quit.
Clear signals from the federal government around banking and a truly hands-off approach to states with full legalization are vital to the success of these efforts. Full-scale legalization at the federal level feels years away, but with each state that opens to cannabis, the pressure to act and the momentum for change increases. There’s even a growing “Congressional Cannabis Caucus” in the US House of Representatives. This is a positive sign that as more states legalize cannabis, there will be increased opportunities for substantive conversations at the federal level.
A bright spot in the regulatory process in many communities has been the retail cannabis businesses. Perhaps because of their visibility, they have brought clear benefits and resources to communities that have welcomed them. Here I have a personal bias with regard to Jamie. I watched her embrace the regulatory process and engage in it with gusto and enthusiasm. I watched as she anticipated changes and worked to be ahead of the curve. Her knowledge of regulations and statutes is almost encyclopedic. Frankly, I marveled at her success in engaging law enforcement, city councils, county supervisors, and the media. Her businesses were always open doors to anyone who wanted to learn and understand the industry. She was extremely professional and respectful of people with differing opinions about her business or cannabis in general. I honestly believe that is a winning strategy at all levels of the industry. People often fear what they don’t understand, and it’s very easy to fall back on timeworn stereotypes when they lack exposure to what’s really going on in the world. It’s a little like grassroots (pun intended) politics where you win hearts and minds one person at a time. Jamie mastered that, and her businesses thrived in one of the most conservative parts of California.
It’s easy to glamorize being a business owner, but entrepreneurship is so much more difficult than people imagine. Twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week you are responsible for the business, your staff, and your customers. I knew it from twenty-seven years of practicing dentistry, and that understanding of what she was going through was a big part of our relationship when she owned the stores. There were times I offered support as her sounding board on some basic business issues but was honestly absolutely clueless on others.
I couldn’t be prouder of Jamie. She’s incredibly honest, unbelievably hardworking, fearless, and was extremely generous to her staff and her customers. She has instincts that rarely steered her astray and a vision that she uses as her guide.
As she moves through the adventure that is her life, a couple of certainties guide her: her everyday life will always be somewhat unconventional, and she will never settle for anything short of extraordinary.
Jim Wood
California State Assemblymember, District 2