The city of El Monte was awarded a $3 million grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections to support the city’s Commercial Cannabis Permit Program.
The funding – awarded on April 13 — supports the city’s Police Department in enforcing laws and rules governing both legal and illegal cannabis operators while developing drug-prevention programs targeted toward youth.
“Monies from this grant will ensure that we continue to focus on the public safety of our community by addressing issues associated with the cannabis industry and engage youth through cannabis prevention and substance abuse programs,” City Manager Alma Martinez said in a statement.
With a recent increase in cannabis-related crimes, police will use grant funds to plan, organize and conduct specific enforcement operations. It will also use funds to secure the services of a dedicated crime analyst, according to Martinez.
El Monte was one of 37 cities whose proposal was selected to be awarded funds from $150 million available out of Proposition 64 — the 2016 measure to legalize cannabis in California — Public Health & Safety Grants.
These are funded from cannabis sales tax revenues from legal cannabis sale. Because the city ranked first in the category “Proposals Regardless of County Size,” it was awarded an additional $2,766,680. Additionally, the city was awarded $233,320 from the “Large County Request Proposals,” which rounded up to the full request of $3 million.
According to officials, El Monte will allocate monies from the grant to focus on three key areas:
- Create the first-of-its-kind Commercial Code Enforcement and Community Service Officer positions to improve the Commercial Cannabis Program and serve as liaisons between the city and stakeholders.
- Increase El Monte Police Department’s bandwidth to proactively enforce both illegal and legal cannabis operators citywide.
- Develop cannabis awareness programs targeted toward El Monte at-risk youth, specifically in most vulnerable census tracts and adjacent to cannabis operators.
In 2020, El Monte passed the Cannabis Business Tax for Public Safety, Parks and Youth Programs designating a specific percentage of gross receipts be taxed based on the type of cannabis industry type (retail, cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and testing).
Martinez outlined that these additional funds will be aimed to expand the El Monte Police Department T.O.R.C.H. (Teaching Obedience Respect Courage and Honor) Program and the Los Angeles County Youth Diversion and Development Program.
“Sometimes kids do get distracted and sucked into situations they shouldn’t be,” Martinez said. “Even without cannabis, right? There’s other distractors. So because cannabis is generating revenues, we are using it for community benefits.”
She added that the Commercial Code Enforcement and Community Service Officer positions will take a “social determinants of public health model” toward the impact of cannabis on the El Monte community.
According to David Welch, an attorney specializing in cannabis law in California, a top issue in El Monte is illegal growers targeting mostly commercial landlords who do not know the line between illegal and legal cannabis.
Those targeted may not speak English as a first language. With this additional funding, the city hopes to increase outreach, education and awareness among its landlords to curb the trend of illegal operations.
Welch added that whether a landlord is aware of the legalities or not, they are still liable if their property is caught in an unpermitted cannabis scheme.
Martinez said that it isn’t just about any loss of revenue but that unregulated operations pose a danger to residents. Police Chief Jake Fisher echoed this sentiment in the statement announcing the grants.
“Public Safety is our top priority and funding from this grant will enable the department to add resources and officers to proactively enforce city regulations on both legal and illegal cannabis operators,” stated Fisher.
The announcement comes days after an illegal cannabis grown house worth $2 million was busted in El Monte. Subsequently, on April 14, officers arrested four men on suspicion of cultivating marijuana, El Monte Police Sgt. Mark Snook said.
“This grant will allow us to work towards shutting down illegal operators and ensuring that those who are operating within the law are doing so safely and responsibly,” Fisher’s statement added.
Damian Martin, attorney at law and co-founder of Catalyst Cannabis Co., is credited with writing the ordinance that allowed cannabis in El Monte. His dispensary was the first to operate legally within the city.
Since its inception in 2015, Catalyst Cannabis Co. has grown to 17 dispensaries — including in Long Beach, Bellflower, Santa Ana, Florence, Pomona and El Monte.
In the spirit of the motto, “Weed for the People,” the adjacent organization, Catalyst Cares, works in conjunction with businesses to increase equity for communities impacted by the criminalization of cannabis.
According to an Pew Research published this month, an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults (88%) say either that cannabis should be legal for medical and recreational use (59%) or that it should be legal for medical use only (30%). Additionally, around 60% of adults support removing or expunging marijuana-related offenses from people’s criminal records. These approaches align with a 2011 report by The Global Commission on Drug Policy.
Martin believes that enforcement is not a sustainable answer to curbing illegal cannabis. Rather, he sides with a non-carceral approach — empowering the cannabis market to level the playing field. This, he said, can only be done if more cities welcome legally operated businesses like El Monte has done.
“The enforcement very much becomes whack-a-mole — you shut down a warehouse in one place, it pops up somewhere else,” Martin said.
In L.A. County, 23 cities allow at least one cannabis business type, and 65 cities prohibit all cannabis business types. County rules apply only to the unincorporated parts, therefore all cannabis business types are prohibited in these places.
“El Monte has done a fantastic job,” Martin said. “They’ve done it primarily through access, and reasonable taxation. And open dispensaries on visible locations of their city where people can see there’s a potential for a legal market that does better and provides great community offerings and benefits and engagement. The problem is, there’s a lot of cities all over California that have not.”
