Sacramento Mulls Over Lack Of Minority-Owned Pot Storefronts

The Sacramento City Council discussed the possibility of allowing more storefront cannabis dispensaries in an attempt to make the system more equitable.

Right now, the city caps the number of storefront dispensaries at 30. But some people want the cap lifted, so that more minorities have a chance to get into the lucrative marijuana industry.

That includes Greg Vaughn, a small businessman in Sacramento and former Major League Baseball player who grew up in the city's Meadowview area and who addressed the council Tuesday night.

"We don't have one person of color that basically has a dispensary," Vaughn said. "But it's in our neighborhoods where we grew up."

Malaki Amen was also at last night's meeting. He's with the advocacy group California Urban Partnership, which works to build economic security in communities of color.

"Not one of the current 30 are owned by an African American," said Amen. "And so we would like to have, as part of the process going forward, looking at how we can achieve parity in the dispensary licenses that are issued."

City council members agree there's a disparity problem and they want to fix it. Councilman Jay Schenirer said they're just not sure how yet. 

"Whether that's looking at current operators that are under performing, whether it's adding new dispensaries, I think those are all things that we can try to figure out," Schenirer said.

But some council members don't want to increase the number of pot dispensaries in the city, and to keep the cap at 30. Council Member Angelique Ashby said the city doesn't need more dispensaries.

"What I don't want to do is add 30 dispensaries so that we make it 60 and then we have equity," said Ashby. "I don't want to do that because I don't want 60 dispensaries. I do want equity."

The council voted to refer the topic to the city's Law and Legislation Committee for more discussion.