{"id":3947,"date":"2022-01-28T17:15:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=191963"},"modified":"2022-01-28T17:15:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:15:08","slug":"how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=3947","title":{"rendered":"How Virgil Grant shaped social equity for the city of Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"
How Virgil Grant shaped social equity for the city of Los Angeles | Leafly<\/title> <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. 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You’re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Social equity is one of the hottest conversations in cannabis. That\u2019s because the cannabis industry and the lawmakers policing it need to atone for all of the damage they\u2019ve done to Black and Brown communities. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-right\">\n<p>\u201cWe were the first to go to jail, we should be some of the first to get licensed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite>\u2013 Virgil Grant<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Few people know this better than Virgil Grant, who was instrumental in bringing Los Angeles\u2019 cannabis industry and social equity program to life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got Measure M passed and a social equity program voted on unanimously. I just did what I knew was the right thing for my people and my industry colleagues. When they write the history books about cannabis, there\u2019s no way a book can be written without Virgil\u2019s name in it,\u201d he says during a phone call with Leafly.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<h2>Who is Virgil Grant?<\/h2>\n<p>Virgil Grant is a longtime cannabis owner and operator in the city of Los Angeles, California. He is the owner of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.californiacannabiswc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California Cannabis West Coast<\/a>, a chain of dispensaries with three locations in the downtown, Melrose, and Crenshaw districts of LA. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img alt=\"California Cannabis West Coast logo with a green and red C intertwined with hearts and text that reads "only the best grows in the west"\" class=\"wp-image-192025 has-ll lazyload\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-1.jpg,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-1.jpg,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-1.jpg,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-1.jpg,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Additionally, Grant is a founding member of Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA) and co-founder of both Southern California Coalition and California Minority Alliance, three advocacy groups that helped push for legalization and social equity in LA cannabis. You may recognize his face from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/lifestyle\/bet-smoke-marijuana-and-black-america\">BET\u2019s Smoke: Marijuana + Black America documentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Virgil has been one of the biggest movers and shakers in the LA cannabis community since the early 90s. Even before legalization, Virgil was running the streets of Compton, with distribution set up throughout housing projects in Watts, East LA, West LA, and Crenshaw. <\/p>\n<p>His product\u2019s reputation in the streets led him to connecting with many of your favorite rappers back then, including Eazy-E, Coolio, MC Eiht, DJ Quik, 2pac, and pretty much the entire cast of Death Row artists.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" alt class=\"wp-image-192026 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-2.jpg,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-2.jpg,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-2.jpg,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-2.jpg,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><\/figure>\n<p>In 2004, Virgil transitioned from the legacy cannabis market to the medical cannabis market. He opened The Holistic Caregivers in the heart of Compton, followed by locations in Garden, Crenshaw, Downtown LA, Koreatown, and finally The Valley. <\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>By then, I was an advocate. I was a founding member of the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA). That was one of the first organizations that sprouted up outside of NORML. <a href=\"https:\/\/norml.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NORML was there to legalize cannabis; <\/a>GLACA focused more on the safe access of retail,\u201d Grant says. <\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, in 2008, his successful businesses would be raided by federal agents, landing Virgil in federal prison for six years.<\/p>\n<p>Upon release in 2014, Grant immediately got back to the mission, tapping in with advocacy groups like GLACA; the LA Cannabis Task Force; Cultivators Alliance; Delivery Alliance, and Manufacturers Alliance. <\/p>\n<p>During this time, he saw that all of these groups needed a single unified voice, and through the power of his reputation, his network, and his connections with the City Council, Virgil (in conjunction with the Southern California Coalition) became just that.<\/p>\n<p>Moving with the power of the people behind him, Virgil\u2019s next mission was creating a legal framework for cannabis taxation, enforcement, and regulation in the city of Los Angeles. This was the birth of Measure M.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-what-is-measure-m\">What is Measure M?<\/h2>\n<p>Proposition 64 legalized adult-use cannabis on a California state level. <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Los_Angeles,_California,_Marijuana_Regulation_and_Taxation_Referred_Ordinance,_Measure_M_(March_2017)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Measure M<\/a> added the legal framework needed to get the city of Los Angeles\u2019 cannabis industry up and running. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-right\">\n<p><strong>\u201cCompton, Watts, South Central, Eastside of LA, this is where the failed War on Drugs targeted. We wanted to make sure that if you live in those zip codes, and you have a cannabis felony, then you\u2019re first in line for social equity. It wasn\u2019t about race.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><cite>\u2013 Virgil Grant<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It helped repeal the controversial Proposition D, which placed a 135-dispensary limit on the number of cannabis businesses that could operate in LA and blocked many previously-legal dispensaries from gaining licensing.<\/p>\n<p>Virgil was a key author in Measure M, and when it passed, he demanded the city council implement a social equity policy along with it. They voted and approved the program unanimously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were the first to go to jail, we should be some of the first to get licensed. Everyone voted unanimously to have a social equity program tied to Measure M. Out of social equity, they created a Division of Cannabis Regulations (DCR). If I didn\u2019t start Measure M, there wouldn\u2019t be a DCR,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>From Measure M, sprouted the <a href=\"https:\/\/cannabis.lacity.org\/tags\/social-equity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Los Angeles Social Equity Program<\/a>, a three-tier program that was <em>supposed<\/em> to provide licensing priority to people residing in zip codes that have been most affected by the failed War on Drugs. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-slow-to-no-progress\">Slow to no progress<\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, very little of the Los Angeles Social Equity Program has panned out for its applicants. And even though Virgil Grant is responsible for bringing social equity to the table in LA, the city has got to be willing to serve it up for the people. <\/p>\n<p>Over four years after Measure M passed, there shouldn\u2019t still be social equity applicants waiting on licenses. But such is life in Los Angeles cannabis, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-01-27\/california-pot-industry-social-equity-broken-promises\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuits and lengthy administrative processes<\/a> have stacked the odds against Black and brown cannabis businesses. <\/p>\n<p>And while we saw some movement in retail on the Los Angeles cannabis scene in 2021, there are still many ways that the program can be improved to make it truly supportive of the minority-owned businesses that are trying to make it in the legal cannabis industry in California. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThey can brag and say we do have a social equity program. But at the end of the day, the Division of Cannabis Regulations (DCR) dropped the ball in a huge way. The only people that are harmed and impacted are the same people that were negatively impacted before. That\u2019s just trauma on top of trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite>\u2013 Virgil Grant<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<p class=\"has-dark-green-color has-text-color has-small-font-size\">Editor\u2019s note: since interviewing Virgil Grant, two Black-women-owned dispensary businesses, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/dispensary-info\/gorilla-rx\">Gorilla Rx<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/dispensary-info\/josephine-and-billies\">Josephine & Billie\u2019s<\/a>, have opened in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles.jpg\" alt=\"Dant\u00e9 Jordan's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>Dant\u00e9 Jordan<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Dant\u00e9 Jordan is a former member of the Leafly Subject Matter Expert team, and current freelance writer, video producer, and media consultant specializing in cannabis culture, strains, products, education, and everything else related to that lil\u2019 green flower. Contact him at smokingwithdante on Instagram, or dantenetworks(at)gmail(dotcom). His website is www.dantejordan.com.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/dant-jordan\">View Dant\u00e9 Jordan’s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --> <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. 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That\u2019s because the cannabis industry and the lawmakers policing it need to atone for all of the damage they\u2019ve done to Black and Brown… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/how-virgil-grant-shaped-social-equity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}