Pot and Equity Issues

As California prepares to kick off the nation’s largest legal commerce in marijuana, it’s easy to salivate over the multibillion-dollar bonanza this could bring to the state and local economy, and to believe the hype that this wealth can reverse some of the damage wrought over decades by the war on drugs.

But when Los Angeles County’s Office of Cannabis Management held a series of “listening sessions” to seek public input on potential regulations, the question that cropped up again and again was how this might affect various communities, especially the youth.