Oakland approves laws to regulate pot industry

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved laws to regulate the city’s medical cannabis industry, but promised to revisit provisions that have drawn sharp objections from industry leaders.

At the center of the debate is an equity program that some council members see as reparations for the U.S. drug war, but that industry leaders say will cause the city’s pot trade to sputter.

While the idea was to promote diversity and redress the racial injustices of the drug war, critics say the program may create obstacles for the people it seeks to help.

Oakland’s pot ordinances were designed to bring the city in line with state laws that will regulate all aspects of the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry by 2018.

Councilwoman Desley Brooks pushed for the equity program at the May 3 council meeting, tacking on a slew of last-minute amendments to ordinances that had taken the cannabis commission 18 months to write.

While many speakers at Tuesday’s meeting applauded the council for making race and equity a point of discussion, they warned that the proposed amendments could create a permitting bottleneck:

“If you’re serious about equity, show us you’re willing to share this big pie,” she said to the pot business owners who challenged her amendments.