Below is my (expanded) response to Betty regarding the transfer of dispensary permits. Folks lets make this a public discussion; anger is fine, feel free express your views, but keep it civil; any hatred will not be allowed.
Hello Betty,
There is a good reason why permits are not meant to be transferred or sold. The ordinance clearly states that any “direct or indirect” transfer of a permit results in its automatic termination.
Equity permits are intended to be operated by social equity recipients, not sold to the highest bidder. Social equity dispensaries were designed to serve as hubs of opportunity for other social equity brands. Allowing permit holders to sell their permits undermines this purpose. Once a permit leaves the equity stable, the new dispensary permit holder is free to disregard other social equity brands.
Davina Smith has been terminated, and because her loyalty lies with her criminal organization, Leyne Milstein refuses to enforce the ordinance, which requires that when a dispensary is transferred, the permit is revoked and returned to the public/CORE for distribution, not for sale to highest bidder. By unlawfully approving transfers, the city enables predators like Bryan Smith and Garib Karapetyan, who own numerous dispensaries, to take permits away from social equity operators. This is part of a larger scam.
Furthermore, the city collaborates with landowners like Garib Karapetyan to create green zones that inflate land prices. The city’s regulations require permit holders to acquire property within these green zones, benefiting landowners while harming social equity recipients. The city takes state grant money and feeds it back to CORE in the form of equity loans and grants. This means recipients end up paying (wasting) grant money for inflated green zone land leases at 6 to 10 times the market value. For instance, Karapetyan charges $20,000 per month for a green zone lease for an equity permit holder.
If the city would enforce the code and disallow transfers, as they should, (mandatory duty), investors could invest all the money they want into the dispensary permit, benefiting themselves, and the social equity permit holder. However, investors would not be allowed to take ownership of the permit. This means investors could either gain back or lose their investment, but the equity permit holder would retain the permit, ensuring true protection for social equity permit holders.
It appears that CannaCare was sold to Ohana for between 6 and 10 million dollars in Oct 2020; which means the value of dispensary permits has plummeted in just 4 years, and now a predator like Bryan Smith or Garib Karapetyan will pay less than $500,000 for a social equity dispensary permit. If there is any illusion as to who currently owns dispensary permits in Sacramento; let me dispel that illusion now.
32+ Dispensaries have been sold in Sacramento, Garib Karapetyan KOLAS brand owner; owns at least 9 permits, but admitted to Weezyleaks in a fact to face meeting that at the time, he actually owned or controlled 15 dispensary permits. Doesn’t that check out? Who is the biggest weezy brand in Sac? KOLAS.
I also want to point out that due to the “green zone” regulations, my understanding is that zero social equity dispensary permits are currently in operation. Mike’s was the 2nd to open, but from my understanding even the first one is no longer operating. The “green zone” regulations were a problem when Joe Devlin was in Smith’s recently vacated shoes, and permits were not being approved then either. The “green zone” regulations are the exact reason CORE equity permit holders can not operate their permits.
The space OCM makes available for cannabis is intentionally “not enough”, because OCM wants you to pay inflated prices so that ultimately … the permit will wither and die on the vine, and cease to exist or … if it is a dispensary permit, ensures it will be unlawfully transferred to a market predator in collusion with the criminal organization.
In conclusion, you may assume that Davina, and Leyne supported CORE, but that was an illusion; designed to keep you complacent and silent about the corruption. Think about it; what makes operating a dispensary so expensive? Back in the day when I operated a dispensary, we would open with nothing but the landlords consent, buy and sell weezy, and at the end of the day we made a buck and our patient was happy. Sure, it was labled the the wild wild west, but in my humble opinion it was far superior to the shit show we have today.
I suggest we ALL go back to that model (its still legal and viable) and screw this legal use bullshit. Concider this; what if the city just said; unlimited cap on dispensaries, in any zone? What would be wrong with that? Love to hear the comments, please do so.
Shameless plug: Anyone wanting to learn how to operate in the Shadow Market with Weezyleaks; just let me know; we’ll make it happen.
Thank you,
Weezyleaks