Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

However, our employees have always been paid with checks. We have 401 k , which is matched. Our Health Benefits are fully covered. We have vision, dental, medical. They are paid a living wage. And we also have a great deal of education that comes before they come on the floor. One thing im really proud of, because people dont stay with you forever, is when my staff leaves, having apothecary on their resume is a sign that theyve had a good Work Experience and they are ready for the professional world of cannabis. We have a very diverse staff, including people of color, lgbtq, many women that are in leadership. And were really proud of the work that we do. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. Thank you. Supervisor ronen next applicant. Good morning, supervisor fewer, supervisor mar, supervisor walton. My name is im currently operating a small independent San Francisco nativeowned and im working on opening retail with two of my best friends. Michael and angel davis, through the Equity Program. My mother is an immigrant, my father is firstgeneration chinese, whose parents came here. Angel and i started working in cannabis about seven, eight years ago. The Equity Program was designed to serve people like my partner mike, individuals persecuted and punished for whats now legal. A Program Designed to give those from the city a chance to stay and give back to the community, because this is our home and no one else will take care of the city the way someone who truly loves San Francisco can. I believe im a good candidate for the cannabis Oversight Committee, being a chinese american san franciscan, i can see the split within the community. I hope to educate and do the outreach necessary to introduce the community to cannabis in a newly regulated and legal market. Having opened a fair share of small businesses, i know all too well the difficulty of navigating through the bureaucratic permitting process of San Francisco, from d. B. I. To planning to health, to fire, to the o. C. C. I see this as an opportunity to serve the city as a way to take fewer resources from the city and instead to have a greater impact on the industry and to help San Francisco position itself to be a model, to leaders in restorative justice. I do not take this opportunity lightly. I hope that you value my voice as i bring as i feel like i bring a diverse viewpoint from a large, Cross Section of community. In addition, my Business Partners also bring perspective in shaping how to do this business together from their communities. As a native san franciscan coming from the africanamerican and native latino community. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer thank you. How do you see the cannabis delivery and the brick and Mortar Retailers working together. Is it possible for them not to work in opposition to each other . Youre talking about delivery versus retail . Supervisor fewer yeah. I think part of the problem right now is that even though theres regulations for delivery businesses no the to deliver into San Francisco, they still do. I think this, you know, i think thats where a large part of the problem comes between the delivery and the retail. Retail actually is given a delivery license, but a lot of them dont operate it. I think that because of the Bigger Companies that come in from outside of San Francisco, they dont even try. Supervisor fewer so it an opportunity for San Franciscobased brick and Mortar Retail stores to actually have a Delivery Service amongst them together . What do you think of that . I mean, i think thats possible. That might be lower down on the list, as things that need to be fixed too. Supervisor fewer as a chineseamerican, when theres fierce opposition about cannabis, what do you think this why do you think this is and what can we do to help combat that . My grandmother is absolutely opposed. I think she found out i was doing cannabis, you know, it would be over her death bed. And now that i manufacture a c. B. D. Pain cream, i havent told her that its cannabis. She uses on her joint. My aunt has used it. I mean, its theyre asking for more of it. Like, i mean, its its all about education, you know. I think that once the stigma is lifted, you know, the younger generation, the millennials, you know, their first question is always this is great, you know. Its the older generation that just needs to be educated and brought in, especially in the asian community, right. Supervisor fewer youre right. So when we see 300 people pack this chamber, anticannabis or anticannabis in their neighborhoods, what do you think as a city and county of San Francisco. A part of this Advisory Board will be also to help advise the board of supervisors, thats probably the main purpose. So what kind of advice would you give to the city and county of San Francisco and the other partners that are nonvoting partners on the advisory committee, such as public health, d. B. I. , all of these other city departments. What advice would you give them around this population, that has actually so uncomfortable with the idea of Retail Cannabis in their neighborhoods. I mean, everything is education. But the other most important thing is neighborhood outreach, right. My partner angel and are now on 11 different neighborhood associations in hayes valley, castro, and now in the dog patch, now on petro hill. You have to go and its one thing to say youre going to be part of the community. Its another thing to actually go, go to every meeting and hear everybody out. And, you know, i think that eases a lot of the stigma around it. I think also, you know, making places a little bit nicer, you know, not just the place where people come in and the stigma is, haney, im going to come in and get something here. But to make it beautiful and to make it medicinal and to have the education talks in there and to get the right people in. I also want to say like i think, you know, weve been talking about it this evening, this afternoon, but you know local San Francisco brands. Things that are made here. I mean, we i think San Francisco makes some of the best products in the world, you know. Supervisor fewer i was just saying this. I thank you. I would just say in our neighborhoods v1, v4, v10, theyre not in neighborhood associations. Those are englishcentric most of the time. We are talking about immigrant chinese, whose first language is chinese. These are this is in our neighborhoods where permits are pending, that as we have seen such great opposition, are you a chinese speaker . I am not. No. Supervisor fewer so this is the population when we talk about neighborhoods. And i think weve also heard from applicants about the neighborhoods. We get it. But actually i just want to say personally as a fourthgeneration chineseamerican, that the Chinese Community has not been outreached to, quite frankly. The opposition to cannabis has outreached to them. And that is the only information theyre getting. So i think that more chineseamericans need to actually represent sort of the cannabis industry, too. Because i think that theyre not seeing, even though we know that cultivators, people grow houses in for example, in d4, rev leapt, a lot of them Young Chinese really exstudents from like lincoln high school, for example. Wash. Supervisor fewer yeah. Were just not seeing i think the transition to a level of comfort around cannabis, that it is basically here to stay. When we go out to the neighborhoods, what we hear is we want it to be illegal, even though 74 of san franciscans voted for it to be legal. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor walton. Supervisor walton thank you, chair ronen. Just same question. How important do you think it is to have diversity on this committee . I think its the most important. I think that my entire business, my partners, like i said, my equity partner, who i have known since i was a little kid, is africanamerican, my Business Partner in the delivery manufacturing and distribution is shes half hispanic, half korean woman. Weve been meeting with, you know, local men and women that are, you know, lowincome, diverse. I think that one of the things im excited about is that i hear that the office of cannabis is going to start making retailers put equity products on their shelves. I think thats very important. Yeah. That would be my answer. Supervisor ronen wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you. Supervisor ronen next speaker, please. Hello. Good morning. My name is andrew silva. Im an attorney practicing cannabis law. I have been for the past five years, since law school. I worked in dispensaries during law school. Ive been around cannabis prior to prop 215. During 215 and now prop 64. Yeah. I basically have been dealing with cannabis every day. And im here just to lend my voice. I see what has gone on with article 16 and the great intent of it. But the actual practicality of it hasnt been all there. So i just want to lend my input on trying to make this program run a little bit better. Supervisor ronen supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer youre applying for seat number 16, is that correct . Correct. Supervisor fewer my question to you is very much the same around how can question protect safe access for patients and also the issue of the state regulations and how can we provide still safe access. And also medicine that folks need, in light of state and federal regulations. Yeah. Definitely. When i was working in the dispensary, we used to have a Compassion Program every sunday. That program couldnt be instituted, implemented today because of the testing and packaging requirements. However, you can have a hybrid of giving out tested prerolls, doesnt have to be looseleaf medicine. Theres alternatives that can happen. The other issue is with taxes. Any kind of cannabis products that you give out, is still taxed. So who is going to pay for that tax. You might as well just sell it. Any businessman will think that way, right. Thats one issue. The other issue is patients getting their medical cards. A lot of them dont want to register with the county and the state. Prior to prop 64, you could just get verified online or through the doctor directly. And not have to kind of go through a registration system. I think that put a lot of people off. Supervisor fewer do you think that streamlining that medical approval permitting would ever licensing, streamlining that, would actually allow patients to be able to Access Medicine less expensively . Do you have any ideas. I know in some states if you have a medical card, that you dont have to pay the 20 tax. And they waive it. And i think thats a state regulation. What are some of your ideas around that . Yeah. It has to trickle down from the bottom. So give cultivations, manufacturers the incentive to, haney, you dont have to pay taxes on this part of the grow, if it goes to the Compassion Program. Something like that. Ii think that would be the way o go. Supervisor fewer okay. Thank you very much. Supervisor ronen supervisor walton. Supervisor walton same question. How important do you think it is to have diversity on the committee . Thats pretty much the way the reason im here today. Seeing this Program Going the past couple of years and just kind of be stagnant, a lot of people in the industry get left out, that want to stay in the industry. Its pretty much, you know, a voice that needs to be heard. Supervisor walton thank you. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Supervisor ronen thanks. Next applicant. Good morning. Good good morning, superviso. Thank you for the opportunity to come here today and tell you a little bit about myself. My name is they tess rhea. And im currently the city representative for laborers local 261. Im on leave with the city of San Francisco currently. I was hired by the city and county of San Francisco in 1996. Oh, to start, i applied for seat number 15, the Workforce Development seat. I was hired by the city and county of San Francisco in 1997, as a laborer. I got really involved with my union to promote women in the trades. That is the trades are primarily maledominated field. And we needed to have a voice at the table as well. In 2004, i became the cochair of our Public Employee committee. In 2009, then mayor gavin newsom assigned me to work at the local, to develop Public Private partnerships. In 2010 we launched our horty cultural program. Followed by 2014 we developed the mays preApprenticeship Program. From there we developed in 2015, i assisted in developing the arborist Apprenticeship Program, another one of the first statecertified in the country. Then in 2017, the city and county assigned me again to the california statewide cannabis apprenticeship committee. There i assisted in developing apprenticeship standards for the cannabis industry, under the direction of the governor, to have multiple Career Pathways under the cannabis apprenticeship. So in january, it was finally approved by the state, where we have cannabis Apprenticeship Programs, that has cultivation pathway, a pathway for delivery, manufacturing, and also for pharmacy tech. Despite some claims that San Francisco doesnt have much in the way of cultivation or manufacturing, we know that theres a considerable amount being done in district 10 primarily. If i was given the opportunity to serve on the cannabis Oversight Committee, i can bring my experience with Workforce Development and providing legitimate Career Opportunities and Transferable Skills in the cannabis industry. Supervisor ronen supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer thank you very much. What are some of the your ideas on how we expand the cannabis workforce into a bona fide profession at every level, with levels of progression. Within all levels of the industry, retail, production, the firstline employees, trimmers. And how do we get a local hire component in with it, combined . So with the we can deliver it through like with the ordinance that was passed earlier this year i believe, where its a twopronged. If we have the preapprenticeship, its mainly about education. The ones that were negatively impacted by the war on drugs, shouldnt be left behind a second time. So we really need to take this time and this advantage to give those folks training. So that way theyre not left behind, where they can move on. Through the education of the different Career Pathways, you know, once they get a grasp on the industry and they have the skills, then they can progress. So, you know, they can move on to be owners or cultivators or, you know, whatever pathway they want. We also have to educate the industry. Because right now theres a fear. Theres a fear, well, if we train the folks. Were going to lose them or they might steal the secret sauce, like the recipe on how to do things. But we need to we need to really do the social justice the right thing. We have to right the wrongs that have happened in the past. So we would have to educate employers. Because they also are fearful if they begin training, that theyre going to become union. Thats not necessarily the case. You can still train folks and you dont have to be unionized. Supervisor fewer and what about a partnership with city college . That would be great. I mean, we need educational facilities to be involved. We do have an l. E. A. With the statewide. But we are currently seeking also other educational agencies to come on board. That way it can be more robust. Right now, i mean, theres things going on up north. Theres things going on down south in california. But we really need to have a local agency involved. Supervisor fewer because we, for example, into the trades and thats what youre familiar with, we have city mr. We like people to hire directly from city build. Just knowing a baseline of skills that they have been taught. So i was wondering what your ideas might be if city college were to provide something similar to city build, but also actually give the baseline, so it is so employers can feel as though they can pick employees from this group of people and we give actually some preference to equity applicants also to enter this program. What do you think . I think it would be a great idea. Like i have heard the term city grow spread around, which we really do need to launch. As a preapprenticeship to provide the baseline of, you know measurements and Different Things that you need to know the minute you walk into the door of an employer. But then from there, then they can move on into the apprenticeship. So more of the standardized, more largely training. But, yeah, you really need to have the first step of the preapprenticeship. Supervisor fewer thank you. Walton Railroad Just one question. How important do you think it is for diversity on this committee . Diversity we need diversity on the committee. Weve also heard we need it desperately in the industry. But you know, every sector of our population should have a voice, especially when it comes to this new industry. We definitely need diversity. Supervisor ronen thank you. Is that all . Supervisor mar. Supervisor mar thank you, chair ronen. I just would be interested in hearing your thoughts about, in terms of local hire. And also building career ladders for folks, especially those impacted by the war on drugs. Is there a role do you have some idea about potential policies that the board or the city could enact to really make hiring and promoting practices much stronger in the industry . Yeah. We have some ideas. Like maybe with the permit process. If, you know, employers are committed to hiring work with the apprenticeship but also hiring local. Where they move up in the permit process perhaps. Because right now its like a long youre just in line forever. I think that would be a start. We have to just get it out there where we need to have local residents, because weve seen in other states, like colorado, where people fly in, the mothership flies in and then the locals are all left behind. In San Francisco, and in california, we know we can do better and we have to do better. We cant leave the locals behind. You know, we cant have people coming in from other states and taking what rightfully should be nose negatively impacted. They should have a voice in their city and have a seat in their industry and a seat in their city. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. Thank you. Supervisor ronen next applicant. Good morning. Supervisor fewer, supervisor walton, supervisor ronen, supervisor mar, my name is burke hanson. Ill tell you a little bit about myself, just so you kind of know where im coming from. Im a bay area kid, graduated from berkeley high. Spent a few years living abroad and came back to San Francisco to go to hastings. I was in mexico and japan and i have to say thats that kind of diversity of experience, living in other countries, is one of the greatest experiences you can have. Its something that i have carried with my whole life. I spent seven years living in the tenderloin, in the mid otts, when frank and Skyline Realty were going around basically with, you know, guns, rolling people out of their apartments. I was one of those guys. And i had worked back in the late 90s at the hope center over on 6th and market. Really it was the only dispensary at the time. They had a Compassion Program. So every day we had a lot of transgendered people, people from that area, its a very difficult part of town, coming up and we would give them cannabis for free, to take care of their ailments. Now i am a verified equity applicant. Im also a cannabis attorney. Ive been practicing cannabis law for five years now. I had been doing criminal law when i first got out. Criminal defense. Then i did labor law for a few years after that, both discrimination and wage and hour type stuff. So ive got a diversity of experience in terms of the type of work ive done as an attorney. Ive also ill just say now, i kind of threw my hat in the ring for three different spots. One was the equity applicant, was one the expertise applicant. As an attorney, i understand how important it is for Something Like the office of cannabis to get good advice. I can really appreciate this. And i understand sort of the position theyre in. I have cosponsored legislation with chus office before, so i understand the difficulties of the sausagemaking process. One of my goals, should i have the honor of serving on the commission, would be to help the office of cannabis be a little more efficient in terms of getting equity applicants through. I believe were still only a twoequity retail permits that have been issued, after two years. So i think this is one of the major flaws of not how the system is set up, how its been interpreted by the office of cannabis. And thats one thing that i think. From my perspective as an attorney, who has help set up a lot of these businesses, id like to be able to work with the office of cannabis on that, that particular issue of getting the whole process moving faster. I have worked with people like aleh here in the past and really deeply invested in the local cannabis, cannabis community. Id love to weve also one other thing i did, i have set up a couple of different nonprofits. Ones is a c3, which recently got its tax i. D. , devoted to its really designed to help people with cannabis give back to their communities. The and the other one was an Organization Called the coalition for common sense regulation, which was designed to do things like get legislation passed that helps the industry as a whole. Ab1159, that i worked on with chus office, made sure that cannabis contracts were legal, in spite of the federal prohibition. It also maintained attorneyclient privilege. A lot of people in the industry were appreciative of us for really pushing that through. So, yeah, if you guys have any questions, please ask. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer yes. Thank you very much. What do you see as some of our main challenges in rolling out our Equity Program . Whats the recommendations you might have . I think the Equity Program, as it was conceived, is great. Part of the problem has been the office of cannabis is sort of micromanaged everything, right. And because of that, i know them, theyre good people. But theyve been maybe overly cautious in terms of, you know, obsessing over every single piece of paperwork that somebody has. You have people reading over long, complicated agreements, rather than focusing on the stuff that should be more of their concern like security. Are they in the track and trace program, do we know that there are cameras where theyre suppose to be, that kind of stuff. I think another big problem for the Equity Program has been the unlicensed cannabis activity. Theres a lot of reasons for this. One of the big reasons statewide has been has been its difficult to get permitter licenses at the state level. A lot of people just dropped out. Some places got kind of zoned out of he wassence. All right. This happened in sonoma, where originally 1 2 acres to grow and turn around and change the rules on everybody and said you have to have 10. Youve had a lot of legislative challenges. I do think that my perspective is something that would help out the commission in terms of, wait a minute, is this going to be a Workable Program or not. I think with the Equity Program that weve got, theres sort of kind of an unintended victim of the fact that the black market is continued to thrive statewide. But i would really like to see the process in the office of cannabis streamline just to help equity applicants go forward. Because if youre stuck sitting on a lease for four years, youll probably go bankrupt. I think the bureaucratic the bureaucratic efficiency would go a long, long way towards getting equity people into the market actively and running, you know, profitable businesses. Supervisor fewer okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Supervisor ronen supervisor walton. Supervisor walton just the same question. How do you think it is for diversity on this committee . I think its key. Thats one of the most important issues in terms of providing different perspectives on what kind of legislation do we want in the city. How do we want the office of cannabis to run. Obviously a lot of people have been sort of held back by the war on drugs for years, not just the initial incarceration, but the loss of job prospects, for example. So theres a lot of theres a lot of damage thats been done. Having people understand that goal is absolutely critical. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. Supervisor ronen good morning, mr. Block. Good morning. My name is doug block. Im with Teamsters Joint Council 7, representing over 100,000 teamsters and 1500 different industries, including 12,000 who live in the city and county of San Francisco. And about myself, this was my 25th year as a laborer and a community organizer. And the teamster, as you know, are a transportation union. We know delivery so as such im applying for seat 11. I want to thank supervisor fewer for this legislation. We think this commission is really important. Our union, including myself, was intimately involved in crafting the legislations regarding this emerging industry, both here in San Francisco and in sacramento. And as youve heard along with the ufcw and the laborers, were proud to be leading things on the labor side in San Francisco. Were organizing here and around the state and the country, but unfortunately despite very strong regulations, most of the workers remain unorganized. I serve on numerous boards and commissions at the local and state level. Most recently i was appointed by Governor Newsom to his commission on the future of work, which im very honored to serve on. Were looking at a lot of issues that are very relevant to this discussion, including income inequality and how that cuts deeper into immigrant communities and communities of color. Were looking at retail and small business, versus ever consolidating capital. The internet, apps, what we call the Amazon Effect. And were looking at the role of unions and public agencies and education institutions in addressing all of these issues. I believe San Francisco can help define the future of work in the cannabis industry, as it comes out of the shadows. We have always led on the labor side here. But there is so much more work to be done. So i hope to continue this important work on this commission, if you support my nomination. I have a lot of ideas about Career Pathways for people who are victims of the war on drugs. But i will leave my comments brief and just say thank you very much. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer yes, mr. Bloch, good to see you. I wanted to ask, what is your idea on cannabis delivery in the brick and Mortar Retailers working together . And how do we protect against a big economy in this . And also is it possible for them to Work Together, the industry the brick and mortars with delivery . Well, let me start with the gig economy. We addressed that at the state level. When we pushed for and won two very important regulations in sacramento. First, we got rid of uber pot. We got a prohibition on the use of independent contractors to do delivery. Secondly, we had a requirement instituted that anybody doing delivery has to be an employee of the dispensary. So this is really important, because employees, of course, have the right to organize, independent contractors dont. And having people be direct employees of a dispensary, means you cant have temp agencies hiring workers and dispatching them on a daytoday basis to do delivery work. It ties people to the employers, which is where we want them to be and we want them to be organized. And other states are frankly looking at this model that weve done in california. The brick and mortar versus delivery, i think i wish there was an easier legislative solution to that. As i mentioned, were seeing this Amazon Effect impacting not just cannabis, but everything. Absolutely everything. And speaking for the teamsters, we believe that retail is important. The small retail that we we never have any intention of organizing workers in the corner stores, for example. Im not talking about cannabis, but the little familyowned corner markets. But we have teamsters that deliver into those stores. So its very important to protect small and local business. We will come to this commission and urge delivery only and brick and mortar to try to Work Together, because we think theres an important role. But this is where i go back to why i think this commission is so important, because we havent had a place to hash out these policy things. Its happened in this committee here and this here or weve been fighting it out on the streets here or in these hallways. And if were successful with this commission and get the right people here, we can actually look at these issues indepth and hopefully come up with some solutions. Supervisor fewer okay. Thanks. Supervisor ronen supervisor walton. Supervisor walton thank you so much. Thank you so much, mr. Bloch. Just same question. How important do you think it is for diversity on this Oversight Committee . I think that diversity is absolutely important on this commission. I also think having people who have some experience in this industry is very important. And i will say for our union, our focus is on increasing diversity in the workforce, because a lot of these policy debates have had people like me running around, advocating. The worker voice piece has really been missing in sacramento, in San Francisco. And for our union, and i applaud the laborers for the work theyve done, but we have people who come directly out of san quentin and get e. D. D. Grants. And we run them through our Training Program and in five weeks, they have a commercial drivers license and theyre doing union work. And they should be working for recology, they should be working for auto return, they should be working for every Single Company that has a permit or a contract with the city around county of San Francisco. And so thats what im here to say, that were going to bring that same commitment to the cannabis industry. And anybody that has a permit, should be hiring local. Thats our opinion. Supervisor ronen supervisor mar. Supervisor mar thank you, chair ronen. Mr. Bloch, i just had wanted to ask a similar question that i asked of ms. Foglio from the laborers union. I guess in addition to all of the really important work that you you guys are doing to ensure labor rights for workers in this emerging industry, what ideas do you have about how we could strengthen Career Pathways for victims of the war on drugs and other Disadvantaged Community members here in San Francisco . Well, again i think using your power, the power of the permit to tie requirements to that. I go back to the thousandplus workers who drive for facebook, apple, all of these companies, who organized because this body urged the sfmta to put a laborer piece requirement in for those companies to be able to use our bus stops. Every single employer in this industry is coming here to ask for a permit. And again local hire could be attached to that. Across the bay, in oakland, we got a 50 local hire requirement attached to the development of the Oakland Army Base project. So you have all of the power and i believe you have the support of labor in attaching local hire requirements. And then tieing that to Apprenticeship Programs and city college, so that theres a clear place to go and ultimately i would last thing ill say, because im speaking a lot, again oakland is a good example where weve partnered with the west oakland job resource center. Theres a onestop first source, all of the employers have to go to the first source first. And then they can hire somewhere else if they cant fill those positions. But its clear to people in west oakland or if they live in the flats and east oakland, they want to get a job on that project, they know where to go, which is the west oakland job resource center. So there are a lot of good models out there. This is why i said i wasnt going to talk in the beginning. I have a lot of ideas. Supervisor ronen i just wanted to personally thank you, doug, for all of your work on behalf of workers in this industry. As a former Worker Rights attorney, i just had to say that its extraordinary. And the fact that we have all drivers, as employees now, is extraordinary achievement. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor ronen hello. Good morning, supervisors. My name is brian kramer. I was born here in San Francisco. I have lived here my entire life. I went to high school, college, and have worked here. But my primary source of income, since high school, has been through cannabis. I started growing in high school. I started selling in high school. And since then up until i was 30 years old, that was all i did was cannabis. Until i was busted in 1996 and sent to a federal prison for five years for growing weed. When i got out, i was on parole, so i couldnt grow any more. So i started consulting. And thats what ive done since. I have owned several legitimate businesses i guess, you know, coffee shops and stuff like that. But my primary source of income, my entire life, has been through cannabis. I worked for dispensaries, manufacturers, growers, every part of the industry. And now that im consulting, i go all throughout the state trying to help people, you know, maximize and be more efficient. And ive seen a lot of the problems. You know, and a lot of people taken advantage of, you know, in every aspect. I mean, trimmers are at the bottom of the barrel. The bottom of the barrel. Last year, the year before up in humboldt, they were going up trimming, when they were done, they were paid with weed. They werent even paid money. They were paid with weed that was going for pennies, you know, like 400, 500 a pound. So now i work im a consultant also for the laborers union. And i set up a preApprenticeship Program for here in San Francisco. I set upage Apprenticeship Program for the state. And why i came to this thing well, and let me talk about the seat. So i didnt fill out a seat. I just filled out the application and said ill take whatever seat that i fit in. They called me the other day and said you need to fill out a number. I spoke to some guy victor, i told him a little bit about myself and kind of told me ill fill you out at seat whatever. I dont even know what seat he filled me out for. So why i came to this is because theres theres a lot of people here who have certain knowledge about certain aspects of the industry. But id say theres very few who have the experience that i have, that this is all ive done. And i have worked in a very wide range or every aspect of the marijuana industry. And im from here. I have lived in every neighborhood. I have worked in every neighborhood here. And its hard sometimes to see people who arent from here and say make decisions about whats going on here when they really dont know the city. They dont know it. Unless you were born here and raised here, you know, i hear people say, oh, ive been here for a couple of years. Thats great. Im glad youre here. Im glad you like it, because i love San Francisco. But theres very few people who have the experience in marijuana i have. And that are from here and have the knowledge of the city. There we go. Supervisor fewer okay. You want my answer to diversity i can give a generic answer that everybody else gives here. But i think honestly there should be diversity. But i think most of all, for a Committee Like this, you need people who really know what the hell theyre talking about. I dont care what color they are. Oh, sorry. [laughter] supervisor fewer its okay mr. Hanson mr. Kramer. Supervisor fewer im looking at names here. Im so sorry. Youre under number 15, person with significant experience in economic development. Your area of expertise is actually much broader than that. Yeah. Both. Supervisor fewer sent it through different areas of the cannabis industry. I think im qualified for that one. But i think i probably qualify for more of them. I just didnt know. There was a guy victor, he calls me up, he said you didnt fill out a seat. I go, well, i dont know which one im qualified for. He talked to me for a minute, filled it out. I said, cool. Supervisor fewer so thank you, mr. Kramer, for coming today. Let me ask you then, so how do you think that we could expand the cannabis workforce into really professional, to be a profession, from every level . You mentioned people who do the trimming, people first line, like we talked about apprenticeships here, we also talked about local hire. And since youre a san franciscan, im a fourthgeneration san franciscan myself, what are some of your ideas about instituting those types of things . And also a relationship with city college, since we now have free city college. If they taught a course at city college, that would be great. Because thats the problem in this industry right now is that everybody thinks its a gold rush. Like im going to make a Million Dollars in this industry. And some people are. The fact that a lot of people are getting into it and have no experience. And then theyre hiring people with no experience. Then you have a whole workforce that has no real experience. I think proper training would be great. And i think so no within really talks about the issue. This is a money issue. This business is about money. Everybody talks, oh, i want to help this person, help that person. Everybody wants to make a lot of money. You know, theyre not going to sit up here and say that. Theyre all talking about money. And they want some say in where the money goes or how the money is spent or whatever. So there are people making a lot of money. And these are the people that can do the proper training, you know. And just treat people decently. You know, its theres the haves and the have nots. And and thats whats going on. The people coming in with no experience and no training are being treated bad and given crappy jobs and being paid crappy wages, you know. So i think proper training would be a huge thing. Because if youve got people going into the industry, actually knowing what theyre doing and not saying, you know, just give me a job, ill do anything. Ill trim your weed, ill sweep the floor. So people and thats the key thing. When ive gone around, theres very few women at high levels in the marijuana. Theyre trimmer. You know, and theres a lot of hispanics who are being treated. Like i was down at a farm in salinases, they were treated like crap. They were spraying without masks on. Spraying something called abid. You shouldnt even use avid. It has a 50day lifespan, if youre spraying on plants with buds, the workers are doing it and so theres no unified training can say, listen, thats a product we dont use. You know. I go places theres p. G. R. S on the shelves. I ask the guy, do you know what this stuff do does. No, im suppose to give it at week 2. You know, so they dont even though the people who are working dont even know what theyre doing. They dont know the products, they dont know. Youre a san franciscan and you know San Francisco well. Im just going to ask you. What do you think about neighborhood opposition when you go into some of these western west side neighborhoods, that are opposed to brick and mortar, retail in their neighborhood. Ill tell you straight up. I know theres a lot of opposition. You know, i came to some guy asked me to come, i was working for him. He was trying to open up a dispensary in the sunset. And he says, will you come down there. I showed up there. There was a mob out in front. You couldnt even get into the room, you know. He wants me to be involved. I was like, i saw some people, i saw someone i knew and they asked me what i was here for. Im in the wrong place i think. I do not need to be here. I think they need to be given some sort of respect. If a large part of the Community Needs that. Theres no place you cant get weed in San Francisco. Theres nobody in San Francisco saying, gee, i wish there was a spot down the block so i could get some weed. Everybody can get weed in San Francisco. So if theres some communities that say we really dont want this here right now, i think they should be respected. I dont agree with them. I think there should be a dispensary out there. You know, if enough of them live there and they dont want it, respect them. Supervisor fewer thank you. Is that enough for me . Supervisor ronen you already answered supervisor waltons question. Thank you. Supervisor fewer thank you, mr. Kramer. Good morning, supervisors. My name is jeff. I am here as a 25year, but not lifelong resident of the city. I have lived out in the western neighborhoods, out in the Richmond District now for the last five years. Im well aware of the issues that were dealing with. My day job, and what i love to do, is i work at oak dam university. I manage our government and legal affairs. And i work for our business and alumni association. If youre not familiar with us, weve been a brick and mortar cannabis Education School for ten years now. We graduated 30,000 folks from our school, from all over the world. And what weve found is that what we began advocating for, ten years ago, is starting to be lost in the rush to the gold rush, the green rush, which was patients and veterans being able to use cannabis ryan is going to speak to that im sure. Ryan is a great advocate for the veterans community. What we would like to see in the equity realm, someone focused on creating a program that can actually push equity candidates forward. I have had the good fortune of doing trainings at the San Francisco Success Center over on the western addition. And what were finding is theres a real lack of both enforcement teeth against the operators that are going to be the lveimp that stops the little guys and giving the real support necessary to the equity candidates to move forward. We hope with the funds coming down from the state eventually, and being able to be distributed to equity candidates, that will be helpful. We know education is a key. We know all of the issues related to both giving people an opportunity in the industry, but also making sure that we have safety and medical standards intact, is that they are theyre all being overrun by this rush to just make money. And no matter how much we do, at the city level to try to enforce a way the bad operators and give people a leg up, we also need to see that there is some enforcement against these equity incubators, who are creating a notverylevel Playing Field for the equity operators that theyre suppose to be supporting. So one of the big areas for us again is both making sure that we remember that this industry was founded on patients needing medicine and hopefully seeing the board, as well as the city, work with Governor Newsom and representative chu and everyone else from the city to get back to where we were before prop 64 was enacted, where we can actually gift medical cannabis, via a collective or even the San Francisco department of public health, to those patients who need it. Because right now the way the standards are, its very, very hard for those people to get the medicine that they need at the level that they need it, which is financially viable for them. The other thing, too, again about equity, we really, really need to focus on this. Ive had the good fortune again for work at the university for almost two years. I was just up in vancouver meeting with operators and regulators up there. Weve been doing work in missouri and florida. And weve been working with cat packers group down in los angeles. We found that we really truly need to have the regulators and the community itself Work Together to create these opportunities. And we need to be a little bit more i guess we need to think of what ways that we can get equity candidates into the industry, something that we all know didnt happen with tech. Maybe its into the competing direct maybe its not competing directly with the big retailers. We have the formula retail rules. I dont think were going to see star stuckslike cannabis storefronts in the city. Thank god. But what we need to do is make sure with all due respect to all of the retail operators, these are generally minimumwage jobs. Often times there are no benefits. So we need to create avenues for equity candidates to get higherlevel jobs, with these larger operators that are wanting to come here to california and open up businesses. We cant forget that relatively soon down the road, were probably looking at least some level of federal decriminalization. What thats going to do is even bring more operators in, its going to challenge our agricultural folks. One thing that mr. Kramer mentioned, that i wanted to point out, weve been working with Agricultural Labor Relations Board at the state level. We know, theres not a lot of tul it cultivation level. They need to be educated on what their rights are, how they can be represented by union representatives. And how they have action and redress available to them through the state law. Currently theyre not being told that, as much as they should be. Were trying to push out an Education Program to make sure that that happen. Those are some of the areas im most interested in. I have to say, i have a 15yearold at sacred heart, just started this last year up the street. And one of the big areas that not represented, supervisor fewer, in this is, you know, advocacy for parents. I know that a lot of parents made a big deal. I appreciate the leadership on getting rid of the advertising. I dont think any of us will benefit the industry or society as a whole if we have the bud wider of weed or the marlboro of weed. Well talk to the folks at juul about that, right. We really want to make sure that we keep in mind that there are kids out there who have easy access to weed already. Its gotten easier. Lets be honest. I wont mention any particular delivery companies. But the standards are not that high in terms of what the retailers have to go through, in terms of screening customers and what the others do. Another area that we would love to see some focus on as well. Supervisor ronen thank you very much. Supervisor fewer yes. So, you know, in San Francisco i think what weve heard about the state regulations also is that it has pushed people to go underground, people to go into the black market. Just the regulations, also the taxes. And they can actually get product that is tested, everything else, like good product. And still sell it on the black market. So how do you think we bring these people, and considering its now getting so highly regulated. Sure. Its i remember i went to golden gate for law school. I dont practice now. I do policy stuff, like im doing for oak. If you look back at the history of prohibition and everything else. What we did with prohibition, we have fought basically a war on the streets of america to stop the illicit operators and to promote the legal businesses. I wouldnt want to ever see that here in the United States here in San Francisco or anywhere else in the u. S. But we have to somehow get to that level where we start to enforce more against the illegal operators. But we also have to lower regulations, because right now the only way that that anyone, who is just a fledgingly business can survive in San Francisco, i dont even know what it is. Its probably 8,000 to 10,000 a month to pay the lease. You have to sell a lot of cannabis to pay that and your employees. At the end of the day, if we have a more enhanced enforcement against the operators and promotion of the legal operators, through a decrease in taxation and regulatory burdens, that are really keeping them out of the market, we might get to place where we see greater equilibrium. But its really the truth. I mean, i think we all have to kind of admit it, legalization has made it easier for the bad guys to do business, as you mentioned. They get access to great product and then just resell it. So its its a its a tough one because its going to take a lot at the state level. But i think we can get there. I think it would help again to have programs that promoted the Core Functions at the school and lucky to be a part of. Which is helping patients, first and foremost. Not forgetting patients, veterans, those people who need this. And also helping those adversely affected by the war on drugs. And that way, at least at the governmental level, were starting to promote those who are the great operators and the illicit operators, i hope, will start to go away. Its not an easy fix at all. Supervisor fewer okay. Thank you very much. Supervisor ronen supervisor walton. Supervisor walton thank you. Just the same question. How important do you think feel diversity is for this committee . I think its really important for this committee. Its also really important for this city to be at the vanguard, just like over in oakland, and down los angeles, the vanguard of pushing for Equity Programs that work. As i mentioned earlier, i met with a lot of equity candidates. Ive had a chance to do job training seminars for them on building a business. And, you know, often times with the focus on just finding somebody to be your Business Partner, or take you in, i think it sort of actually devalues what those equity candidates have to offer. And youve heard a lot today from people who are local operators, and local producers, who have great ideas and sometimes if you make them be a part of a larger enterprise, which is really again lets be honest, just looking for an equity license to get, a license to do business in San Francisco. It devalues the contribution that equity candidates can provide to the industry. So theres got to be other paths. And what i was mentioning before, perhaps an Apprenticeship Program or something along the lines of flatout forcing the bigger employers, who want to do business here, and i dont mean to bibbing on juul, this is a great example. Theyre putting 112 million behind 12 million behind the antivaping initiative. Thats more than what med man pushed for full commercialization in florida. July is putting in 12 million to fight antivaping here. So going to those employers and saying, look, if you want to do business here, we would love for you to partner with equity candidates. We want you to career path, within your executive rank. Because its not okay to have them just be retailers or bud tenders or delivery driver. They need to be trained to be executives at companies that can scale to the national level, where this industry is going. Thats truly the way its the way to promote equity candidates es to get them opportunities. Give those people the opportunity to get great jobs with great companies. Dont just say to them, you have to go find somebody to partner with and theyre going to put you in a position here. I think we really need to do that. Supervisor ronen thank you very much. I just on a side note, i was whispering to supervisor fewer in the corner. You guys are making this really difficult for us. Supervisor fewer truly. Supervisor ronen the candidates are exceptional. And i will say it says a lot for this industry. And, you know, i wish people that have a kneejerk reaction against this industry could be with us today. Because if they could see the thoughtfulness, the professionalism, i think it would change hearts and minds. Again i