Mayor Seeks to Trim Red Tape for Dispensaries

But after Have a Heart was hoovered up by the Tempe-based Harvest Health and Recreation and the rights to the store were sold to the controversial bud brand High Times, the whole deal developed a severe case of couchlock.

“I think if they had more teeth to reign in these bad operators that it would have helped a lot,” he says, reflecting on his struggle to open the Geary Street shop.

Bronson’s latest roadblock to opening up his shop began last year, just a month after he received Planning Commission approval.

Bronson was left in the dark and is now embroiled in a lawsuit that he says Have a Heart CEO Ryan Kunkel has tried to get him to drop.

“As San Francisco works to recover from COVID-19, it’s important that we support small businesses, including our cannabis industry,” Breed said in a press release last week.

Under the mayor’s proposal, cannabis businesses that partner with equity applicants would also be required to make social equity contributions if they reduce an equity applicant’s ownership by 20 percent or more.

The final rung of the legislation would shorten the time period in which a cannabis business could transfer 50 percent or more of its ownership.

Although Breed is proposing the transfer time clause to be reduced to five years, Anthony says the decision to sell at any time should belong to the equity business owner.

For his part, Bronson is also opposed to the clause as it stands — and under the mayor’s proposed amendment.

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