California Cannabis Ventures, LLC

When California passed 2017's MAUCRSA (aka "SB94") establishing the state's regulatory framework for the commercial cannabis industry, it continued a tradition of letting local jurisdictions decide whether or not to allow such businesses in their communities and adopt whatever regulations they felt were appropriate. This policy meant that in essentially every city and county there would be battles between those for and against permitting commercial cannabis growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Unfortunately the ensuing debates continued another tradition of the war on cannabis -- government leaders relying more on emotion and hearsay than on actual data in making decisions. This has allowed debunked myths, such as marijuana being a "gateway" to harder drugs, be stated as fact in justifying onerous restrictions and outright bans despite overwhelming support by California's voters. [Case in point, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger as late as 2017, in supporting the county's cannabis ban perpetuated the debunked "stepping stone" myth by stating, “I think we all know, and I would argue, this [cannabis] is a gateway drug.”].

Arguments about whether or not to allow dispensaries in a community often lead to the worst use of such misinformation. More often than not, whenever dispensary licensing is discussed, at least one cannabis opponent will state, as fact, a causal connection between dispensaries and increased violent crime. It's a persuasive argument for those who fear that allowing dispensaries will lead to an increase of crime in their neighborhoods (who wants that?). However, it's patently untrue, and we can thank the nonpartisan think tank RAND Corporation for debunking it via an exhaustive longitudinal study on the effects of legal marijuana dispensaries on violent, property and marijuana use crimes.