Compassion towards our youths here in San Francisco, especially from authorities. That definitely rooted down my approach to cannabis. In 2014, my brother was arrested for cannabis in new york city and sent to a year at wreckers island, and during that time period, we were looking at 3 to 7 years for him. He asked me to take over, potentially launch his business and i did. I took it over and i launched his cannabis business as a delivery service. I attended every meeting in oakland because what would the rollout look like . I asked the question every single time. How do people like my brother come back and how about those incarcerated not get shutout. If you had a conviction, you were not allowed to own a business. I started to realize that my testimonial of being in San Francisco started to harm those in oakland because they were also fighting this whole mass exodus, and feeling like their narratives are getting pushed out. So knowing that my business was in San Francisco and i mostly served the San Francisco community, i took my narrative out of oakland to let oakland fight for oakland. I waited for San Francisco to develop the office of cannabis where i sat down with her to map out what i helped co found an organization to help support the efforts going on and continued to ask the question how do people from the community be able to participate in this cannabis industry, and how proposition 64 was written as a proper takeover of cannabis. So, any co so, nicole was great, and we worked through a loose organization, a body of people who care, essentially, that continued to talk about how do we create the Equity Program here in San Francisco . Through my work with super nova women, i helped to create Panel Discussions from here to boston, massachusetts and the woman that helped us to create the panel became a commissioner in massachusetts and she created a statewide Equity Program, very much fueled by our conversations and the work we are doing here in california. Now, in San Francisco, i head up the original equity group, which is dedicated to building pathways and bridges for our equity capplicants. We have been working with larger cannabis organizations to figure out how to do mentorships, potential Grant Programs and accelerator pra programs so we can see more equity products on the shelves. There is so much more than that, but i could be here forever. We also ran a six week program to give a high level overview of how to navigate the current legislation, the current regulation and we took that education and we did some units in the mission, and then we participated in Educational Opportunities in the fillmore. We go to these large consequences that are expensive and they dont make a lot of room for equity operators, so we try to take that level of operation and bring it into the community for free and do sponsorships of businesses that want to support equity. I qualify as an equity applicant and i would like to get back to just selling weed because i dont know how you deal with politics all the time. I just want to do yoga, smoke weed, and help people heal. I do feel that i am a very qualified person for seat 13. I have a large historical context, as well as a Large Network that are working towards building equity and things we do in San Francisco affect the things happening in massachusetts and beyond. Im looking forward to seeing this body develop for all the work we can do. Thank you. Thank you supervisor fewer. Wow. Hi, how are you. So you have applied as an equity applicant. So, what are some suggestions that you would give us to help le meet our equity goals and push this process along. So what we hear from marissa at the office of cannabis, the new director, is that the City Attorney has actually said that money from the city cannot be given to help jump start any of these cannabis businesses because they have been advised that it would be federally illegal and they would be aiding and abetting the sale of an illegal substance. Because of those funds are not able to be allocated, its hard for us to advocate for that permit navigator seat and to be able to get Grant Programs or even the Technical Assistance that weve been asking for since the onset of this program. If we can potentially get some Financial Assistance or for us to put pressure on the City Attorney and let them know that as a community, we will back them up in the event that there is any backlash for relinquishing funds to help Small Businesses. I think that would be number one, to open up that pathway for money to fall into the program. I also know that we applied for the 5 million state funds, for our Equity Program, so im hoping that maybe they wont be tied up as much as city funds. Thanks, and we have heard about when we were talking about equity, we were also talking about gender too in this business. We have heard from many people up here that it has been a male domina dominated profession or business or industry, especially at the higher level. When i came into this business, there were 37 of women that owned businesses. The money, the Capital Infusion and the capital coming in is what we usually see, wall street, banker types, as well as people that made money in tech, and they are usually white males. We seen trends where people tend to just give money to people that look like them or they can relate to, just because they are confident they can yield the same results they may have done. Its a matter of ignorance than anything else. We seen a decline of women. I think its at 27 now. Okay, so how do you think that we bring more gender diversity . I definitely think that getting grants, like Small Business loans or Small Business grants through the money handed out by the state. So maybe theres 3 million that be used for loans and grants, 1 million to build the equity campus and focus on education, and 1 million set aside for staffing, to move these processes along as far as application processing. I definitely think that there isnt a pathway there. We need to build up a structure and infuse it with the energy it needs. Thank you very much. Thank you. Supervisor walton. Thank you. Thank ms. Parks, the same question, how important do you think it is to have diversity on this committee . I think diversity, its amazingly important. If we can see our committee as diverse as you guys up there, it would be really helpful for us. People made decisions based on their Life Experiences and as much as everybody may have a heart for the experience, its only the folks that are from those experience, or women, or anything that can properly advise into what that experience is like and what they need. I think its very important. Thanks. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good morning. Good afternoon. Its 12 39. Yeah. I have two applications. One would be the application for seat 13 and 14. Got it. I do wish to respect your time. If there are any questions, i wish to be able to say such. Just going with evidence though, i do have a Political Science degree from the great state of arizona. Make that be the copper state, the aztec state, and the grand canyon state. The definition of the great seal, with title 5, United States code, section 5721. I do have the applicability of the agency on the federal level. I also have certificates with the definition of california and the United States code of Emergency Management institute from fema, with evidence as wellbeing the following exhibits. One would be effective communication. The second one would be surveillance awareness. The third would be National Incident management system. I also emailed ms. Edith, if i got that correctly, from supervi supervisor fewers office that i would be stating if i were given the opportunity to be hear, what would be the publicability of my linked in profile, connecting the National Laws to agricult e agriculture. As article xvi deems cannabis as agriculture, and with that expansion, agriculture, if led on to the Cannabis Oversight Committee would be my standpoint. It would not be solely cannabis, but what the bill on the state level and the state level of laws with cannabis, a directive with agriculture. Everything with agriculture would be on the state level, as well as the National Level for my Political Science degree, with the great seal of the state of arizona, and that seal is my root of mandate in regards to what im able to do extensively outside of the Cannabis Oversight Committee and also within the committee as well. The bill i would like to refer to is with current senator, currently in office, just going to my profile on linked in. I would also be the publicability of a San Francisco applicant. I believe its section 1608 and 1618, section j, its that the applicable one. If im wrong, its article xvi. Excuse me for not having the article. I sent it, sorry, im just going through my email account, going to sent and looking for it. Mr. Raybold. Would that be okay . Thank you very much for coming today. So how do you think that equity applicants can operate under and be thriving equity applicants under federal and state regulations. Federal regulations, would be the control substance. California does have the law that says to the charter would be the strongest law going against what could be considered the supremacy cause of the United States constitution. However, i do have a certificate from Arizona State with the great seal of arizona, with the mandate i can go over such. With the equity applicant on the business side, getting rid of the fees, the costs, and the rules of article xvi would be the best reason to do so. Most of the up front cost and even with agriculture, going through the applications, i never received california assistance, such as e. B. T. , however, applicants are denied for such. Since cannabis is deemed agriculture, equity applicants without any rules, if we speak solely about equity applicants, starting their own cannabis business, or agriculture production or farming with a new lens to agriculture, and leading to article xvi, i believe businesses would thrive spontaneously if they were able to farm throughout the process. I do understand that testing, cultivating, manufacturing, distribution, retail, as well as delivery are all allowed. Youre not allowed to farm with those, and removing that farming, or removing the restriction to farm for all that would be best. If an equity applicant, and i have purchased agriculture and agriculture does produce seeds in some of their fruits or vegetables, if an individual can do such and do such without an applicant or without a license or worry about police, such would be able to thrive beyond the county and city of San Francisco. Since it would be agriculture, and with definitions of the california civil code, as well as with the two rivers split, then the allowance to farm without any permits or licensing in the city excuse me. Im a native, i have heart for this city. That doesnt mean because there are additional people that are not from the city from here, but thats the thing. Earth. Excuse me. Thats the thing though. Equity applicants, however the definition of younger age is, you can farm anywhere and theyll be able to be able to use the Cannabis Oversight Committee as a legislative res judicata. A root of mandate, i would be able to assist the equity applicants. Thank you very much. Supervisor walton. Thank you. Same question, how important do you think it is to have diversity on this committee . Diversity is the definition of the one that beholds diversity. If an individual sees a fruit as a fruit, or vegetable as a vegetable, then we would say itsing its agriculture. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hello, good afternoon. Good morning no, good afternoon supervisors. Good to see you, thanks for having me. My name is jesse stout, im an attorney in the cannabis industry. I live and work here in San Francisco. Ive been an organizers and an activist in the cannabis industry since 2002. I first got started on medical cannabis 17 years ago because it really bothered me that people can go to jail for following a doctors recommendation to use marijuana. Seriously ill people in my family and my friends could be threaten with incarceration for something that could heal them. I was the cofounder of a nonprofit organizing patient meetings across the state to talk about what are your needs in terms of influencing the legislative process. . How can we help legislators, the media, and the professions to help you more. I was able to help patients to influence state legislation, which is why i wanted to apply here for c14, to help the Cannabis Oversight Committee to understand the regulations in our city. I graduate in 2012 from uc hastings law. I got started in criminal defense, helping medical cannabis patients avoid incarceration when the state of california charged them with crimes including helping other patients Access Medical cannabis. For the past three years, i served as a diversity recruiter, helping women and people of color. For the past six years, ive been a corporate lawyer in the cannabis industry, meaning i help clients understand the laws and regulations concerning the cannabis industry and how they can track and influence us. I finally wanted to add i had a valuable experience in 2015 when the rules committee helped me get on the san Francis FranciscoCannabis State Legislation Task force. I was the only attorney on that body. We were able to help draft the reports to the board of supervisors and present them to you all to talk about what our citys new cannabis ordinance ought to mean and do. We had the Equity Program, the benefits that the equity applicants received in the program and the criteria that not only people that are personally criminalized for cannabis sale, but also their family members. The zoning and set back rules for Cannabis Retail and nonretail businesses, and events permits that cannabis events should not be more restrictive in nature than other places in california. And i want to say that my priorities on the Cannabis Oversight Committee would involve that we have more equity permits faster. The biggest problem with the implementation with the Equity Program so far has been the delay. Other businesses are able to get that leg up. Our medical marijuana identification card still cost money in San Francisco, even if a patient is indigent. San francisco still pays for sales tax. I think the office of cannabis, which you are going to rename, should have money in its Community Reinvestment fund, to help operators and their community to heal from the harm of war on drugs. I think they need money in order to help these applicants in their communities. Thank you. Thank you so much. Supervisor fewer. Yes, so, we have heard about a lot of the state regulations impeding on our ability to deliver for medical patients and also around the black market and so can you give me, i mean just your idea about how we can bring those people in, considering the state regulations and the restricts, and the hoopla you have to go through so that people would be in the black market instead of actually having a permitted Legal Business here in San Francisco. First of all, we prefer you not say black market because the cannabis industry has this great opportunity to work into a legal and regulated system. We want to draw the distinction that people who are making good faith efforts to comply are still partners and stakeholders in this process, this transition. Second of all, how the state law and regulation has been an impediment to the Equity Program and what we can do about that. I agree youre right that the state law has been a big problem. We in San Francisco help applicants be equity operators. We want to make it so that those who meet the criteria are not going to have to pay for their license or application fee, are not going to have to wait as long, but regardless of who you are, or where youre from, were going to charge you that same license fee and have you wait just as long as everyone else. We want them to speak back to the state, saying we want to have state recognition of our local Equity Programs, that even if the state will not have their own separate parallel Equity Program, they can do something for the local jurisdiction, city and counties that have the programs, so that the applicants will not have to pay as much or any of the state application fee or license fee, so when the equity applicants go to the State Government and say heres my premise diagram, the state can work with people instea