With less than five months to go before the legalization of commercial pot sales, some struggling cities are seeing dollar signs. As the L.A. Times reports, a number of cash-strapped localities are eyeing recreational marijuana as a means to help turn things around. But not everyone is happy about it.
In Los Angeles County, cities like Maywood are approving marijuana licenses in anticipation of boosting local economies, creating jobs and filling commercial lots. Huntington Park has issued three permits, and Lynwood is negotiating development agreements with 13 applicants for marijuana businesses.
Elsewhere, the desert town of Adelanto has tried to sell itself as a place for growers with a 30-acre industrial park divided into units that will be sold to marijuana cultivators for $7.5 million each. And in Northern California, Oakland has received more than 100 applications for marijuana businesses under a city program where at least half of available permits will be granted to applicants that include individuals with marijuana-related convictions.
Maywood has already brought in $90,000 in permit application fees so far. That’s little consolation for some residents, however, who have major concerns about the marijuana industry’s plans for Maywood and who have criticized city leaders for failing to gather adequate input from the public or address its concerns.
Maywood’s embrace of commercial marijuana could quickly spread to other cities, experts say. But the backlash among residents could also be a sign of things to come.