California is the largest cannabis market in the united states, and Los Angeles is one of the largest hubs, as it oversees more than 2,500 different types of cannabis businesses. Because of this, it’s always worth looking at how they are operating, as it could be helpful to other jurisdictions. The Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation’s Executive Director for it’s first five years was Cat Parker. She stepped down from that role earlier this year after frustrating battles with licensing in the city, due to what she said was an underfunded department. The agency has been mired in delays and bureaucratic red tape for years. Since then, Michelle Garakian stepped into the position to serve as the new “LA Cannabis Czar”. She was a longtime insider at the LA Department of Cannabis Regulation and also a former aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti. Recently Garakian spoke to MJBizDaily about her plans to speed up the licensing process by removing bureaucratic red tape and improving communication with operators and applicants. She said, “We’re really focused on business development and customer service. That has been a core tenet guiding me, in addition to centering social equity in every single one of those tenets.” Regarding that business development and customer service, Garakian said they are making many changes to their implementation systems, as well as currently hiring a significant number of new staff to help with this. As for social equity, Garakian said they will be improving programs there as well. They will be creating and offering a new online learning-management system, webinars, coaching consultants, a rental-assistance program, and career fairs and a permanent job board at their offices in downtown LA. When Garakian was asked about how she planned to deal with the unlicensed, black market operators, she said it was an urgent matter and that there would be “more robust enforcement activity” going forward. However, she didn’t offer insight into how that would be done, and even seemed to imply that there wasn’t much they could do. She said the department asked the LA City Council for $10 M to create a fund for enforcement, which was denied. She also pointed out that her department actually has no authority to enforce the laws regarding unlicensed activity, and they do not have authority to influence other city agencies on this issue. The only option she spoke of was her department’s complaint portal, where citizens could provide tips on illegal activity, which would then go to the Police. She said, “But as we know, this is a ‘Whac-a-Mole’ game.” Comments are closed.
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