Dr. Dre made his city of Compton big after the release of his stellar debut album, The Chronic. (sidenote: in college, I dated a chick from Torrance. She had me in Cali off that chronic. Bruh, no joke..) But the city of Compton, made knowN around the world for crime and weed is saying “no” to sales of the chronic or any other strain in the city.
The battle for cannabis in the city of Compton is less about the sale of weed, and more about a fight between generations and a neighborhood concerned with the wrong kind of change.
Per The Cannabist
if you’re looking to buy “the chronic” legally, don’t come to Compton.
Last month, while cities across California were giving the green light to pot shops to sell recreational cannabis, Compton voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to allow recreational and medicinal sales in the city.
To some outsiders, it might be a surprise that Compton would close the doors on pot sales and the tax revenue they bring. But after decades of black Americans being cast as the face of the underground pot market, Compton and other Southern California cities with large African American populations have opted against legalizing the pot trade, worried about the effects on the community and the message it sends.
“Drugs have pillaged black and brown communities,” said James Hays Jr., a 61-year-old community activist who opposed legal pot in Compton. “It has taken all of our talent away from us. It makes our neighborhoods bad neighborhoods to live in.”
James T. Butts, mayor of Inglewood, another city with a large black population, said he would rather create jobs “the good old-fashioned way” by attracting development and generating “construction jobs with training programs and local hiring goals that resulted in people being hiring and getting skills they didn’t have before.”
Butts, a former police chief with 37 year of experience, said pot shop owners would hide sales to make up for the 45 percent taxes levied on recreational cannabis and the overhead costs of leasing and staff. Worse, he said, they move into “ragtag buildings” and don’t invest in the property, thus dragging down the appearance of a neighborhood.
Critics in Compton expressed similar concerns.
“The voters in Compton decided this decision was the healthiest and most forward-looking for our community,” said Councilwoman Emma Sharif, who was the lone council member to vote against both items.
The city estimated it would have cost $6 million to hire staff to process applications and to beef up law enforcement, she said. Additionally, she worried that the all-cash business could have led to robberies or worse.
“I don’t believe bringing marijuana into the community would’ve been good for the community,” she said.
In Compton, petitioners gathered more than 8,500 signatures to get Measure I on the ballot and force the Jan. 23 special election. The voter initiative, which was backed by the cannabis industry, called for a 5 percent sales tax and from seven to 10 dispensaries and would’ve allowed indoor marijuana-cultivation businesses.
The debate about legal cannabis is Compton is a good one. Read the full story here
