The Grift of "Local Control"

Samantha Kadera is an emergency room doctor who works in West Los Angeles and lives in Manhattan Beach, the sweet little whitebread beach community that was largely stolen from black families 100 years ago.

Per “California’s Next Cannabis Battle May Be Coming To a City Near You”, Dr. Kadera works regular overnight shifts, which has “distorted her sleep schedule, so the emergency room doctor smokes cannabis a few times a week to relax before bed. It’s a common habit among the young parents that Kadera knows in Manhattan Beach, where she moved last year to raise her two elementary school-aged children in a more family-friendly environment. But there are no dispensaries in the city; officials banned them five years ago after voters legalized recreational cannabis in California, concerned about attracting criminal activity and advertising aimed at minors. So Kadera stops at a store on her way to and from the Westside L.A. hospital where she works.

THE DEEPER DIVE

This story is dear to my heart because the more I think about what the devious twits at the LEAGUE OF CITIES did to California and to our community, our elderly, our patients, our veterans, our children and our industry with their secret, Reefer Madness agenda to cripple cannabis in our state – to strangle it in the crib – which they did so successfully that other states have taken up the mission !!! the more I want to expose their evil act of promoting “Local Control” - -

People, pay attention:

Local Control is just the Karen version of Prohibition. Karens at the League of Cities called the manager and got local control tacked on to Prop 64 and look at what a mess they’ve made:

• “More than 60% of cities and counties do not allow retail sales, according to the state…”

Which is a huge reason why

• Local growers cannot sell their product, therefore

• Tax revenues are down – based on original estimates of tax revenues for California we are getting $1 Billion LESS in tax revenue than expected…

• and the illicit market dominates the state.

• VAST SWATHS OF THE STATE ARE CANNABIS DESERTS.

And this is true even in areas where voters have been in favor of cannabis for years… “a fall 2019 poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that public support for legal cannabis had only increased since Prop. 64. Nearly two-thirds of respondents favored allowing commercial dispensaries in their communities.”

But city councils across the state have used the “Local Control” argument to go against the will of the people.

Back to Manhattan Beach, “where the rising tension over the future of cannabis access in California is perhaps best captured.”

62% of the city’s voters supported Prop. 64, but City Council voted for “Local Control” and No Dispensaries. Let’s hear from “Hildy Stern, mom of 4 and temporary mayor of Manhattan Beach: She “called it “distressing” that retail cannabis sales might be imposed by outsiders whose values do not fit with Manhattan Beach’s “small-town, family-oriented nature,” and says, “I really am concerned about how access increases normalization to our youth.”

And let’s hear from Amy McAvin bookkeeper Mom of 2:

• She worries about cannabis becoming even easier for kids to get.

• The community is too residential

• Dispensaries would attract undesirable visitors

• It would be hypocritical to allow cannabis sales after banning tobacco

• Those who want cannabis can already easily get it by delivery or driving to a nearby city.

“Hirsh Jain, founder of the cannabis consulting firm Ananda Strategy, has tracked about two dozen cities over the past year — from Red Bluff to Sausalito to Santee — where citizen initiative drives are qualifying for the ballot or pressuring local officials to develop their own ordinances to regulate and tax cannabis sales. “Voters have lost their patience,” he said. “They might be willing to cut their elected officials some slack, but after a while, they’re going to take matters into their own hands.”

THE LAST WORD

How long will it be before California, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and all the states that have subverted democracy under the guise of "local control" will be forced to RESPECT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE?

###

Image source: Alycia Fung: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-covering-face-and-mouth-of-helpless-woman-5806647