County invites people to conversation on pot
Office of Cannabis Management to hold forum at the Castaic Sports Complex on Saturday
For community members with opinions about marijuana, Los Angeles County wants to listen.
In an effort to better understand what people in unincorporated areas’ thoughts are, the Office of Cannabis Management is holding a forum on Saturday to allow them to share their hopes and concerns.
These listening sessions will be conducted as workshops to facilitate dialogue about the future of marijuana in L.A. County, according to the county office.
“We want to get a sense of where everyone is at,” Countywide Coordinator for the OCM Joe Nicchitta said to The Signal in June.
Among the topics that will be discussed, county officials are looking to see where residents stand on the location of commercial cannabis businesses, the rules businesses should follow, strategies to prevent youth from using cannabis and public safety precautions.
Currently, marijuana businesses are not permitted in county-operated areas.
In addition to the 18 listening sessions being held countywide, the Los Angeles County Advisory Working Group on Cannabis Regulation will meet a total of eight times over the course of the summer to discuss safety precautions and regulations before making recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.
For Santa Clarita Valley residents who would like to attend the meeting, the listening session will be held at the Castaic Sports Complex on Saturday, Aug. 5 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The complex is located at 31230 Castaic Road.
The working group is comprised of hand-selected community leaders, industry representatives and policy and health experts. Working group members met for the first time on June 29.
This discussion is a result of the passing of Proposition 64 in November, which legalized recreational marijuana use in California.
To learn more about the county’s work on cannabis regulation, visit cannabis.lacounty.gov.