A California conundrum: How to crack down on illicit sales without echoing the war on drugs?
A nascent industry needs protection, but so do certain neighborhoods
Monday, February 4, 2019
In October 2018, the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ newly-established Cannabis Enforcement Unit teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Department to carry out a raid on an unlicensed shop in Sylmar, a predominantly Latino and working-class neighborhood. The seizure took place ten months after the state had begun allowing the sale and taxation of cannabis for adult use. The end of prohibition has hardly ended illicit cannabis sales. A nascent industry—not to mention local governments eager for tax revenue—is pushing for rigorous enforcement. But who gets hurt? Calibrating a crackdown that does not hurt the same people and neighborhoods that suffered in the War on Drugs is not so easy.