A California county has awarded $40,000 in cannabis equity grants to a local dispensary operator, just months after criticizing the same program for allegedly discriminating against white people.
John Loe, owner of Loe Dispensary in Sonoma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco, in October lambasted the county Board of Supervisors for what he called “racist and anti-white tropes” in its report authorizing the grant program.
“White people will rise up,” he said at the board meeting. “You will not intimidate us.”
In May, the county’s Cannabis Equity Program awarded $635,000 to 20 local cannabis operators, including Loe. The grants ranged from $18,520 to $50,270 and were awarded to those deemed to have been negatively or disproportionately affected by previous cannabis prohibition and the war on drugs, officials said.
“This grant program is intended to assist socio-economically disadvantaged individuals navigating the cannabis permit process,” Supervisor David Rabbitt said in a statement announcing the funding.
The program requires that the recipient, or a family member, have been arrested or convicted of cannabis-related offenses between 1971 and 2016. The application does not require applicants to submit information about their race.
“The county does not consider race when reviewing applications for the Cannabis Equity Program,” county spokesman Matt Brown said.
Loe did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.
In its grant authorization report, the county noted that Latinx and low-income populations have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, and that “wealthy, white stakeholders increasingly own the county’s licensed cannabis landscape, whose investments in land and resources translate into limited opportunities for small cannabis operators.”
Loe called the language racist at the October council meeting and threatened legal action against the county after council members tried to cut short his public speaking time. He also claimed the program used race as a factor in evaluating applicants, despite the county’s pushback.
“You want diversity? What does that mean?” he said. “White people can’t defend themselves? You’re racist.”
Sonoma County supervisors created an Office of Equity in 2020 and a “racial equity toolkit” the following year, which requires proposed programs to describe how they will help advance racial equality in the community.
In his grant application, filed Jan. 22, Loe called the Racial Equity Toolkit illegal and wrote that “this racist policy will be exposed.” He also criticized the program for requiring applicants or a family member to have been arrested for cannabis-related activity, though he noted that he was eligible because of his brother’s cannabis-related arrest.
“I had to work very [hard] “I have decided not to get arrested,” he wrote. “The idea that I have not been harmed by criminalization is racist and I will not stand by while this county discriminates against white people and non-criminals.”
Loe asked for $1 million to compensate for damage caused by the wildfires and a delay of about four years in aid due to problems with processing cannabis permits.
“You are all hated by all of us for good reason,” he wrote in his council application. “You will be held accountable… With a modicum of respect, John Loe.”
