California’s legalization of recreational cannabis in 2016 ushered in a multibillion-dollar industry. But many of the promises of legalization have proved elusive.“If we don’t clean house, nobody else will. I think this will prove to the public that we take corruption very seriously,” said Jones-Sawyer, who declared himself theProposition 64 left ultimate business licensing in the hands of cities and counties.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Amy Jenkins, representing the California Cannabis Industry Assn., blamed local regulations for the corruption problem, arguing that measures such as license caps allowed municipal leaders to pick winners and losers in the market and open up opportunities for payoffs.A Times series exposing labor exploitation, corruption and other problems in California’s cannabis industry spurs calls for action.
“Legal cannabis has failed and will continue to fail until we are able to fully integrate cannabis into our economy,” she said. “Fresno’s now the fifth largest city in the state of California, it’s the capital city of a significant region of the state. For whatever it’s worth I think the Fresno region ought to be considered part of that,” Patterson said.