Doc fumes as Santa Monica launches woke program to help ex-crooks open pot shops in drug-plagued beach city

Santa Monica’s social justice-centered pot program will provide minorities, ex-cons and low-income individuals with tens of thousands of dollars in startup capital to help open up pot shops, and a local doctor is giving the ultra-woke plan a grim diagnosis.

Santa Monica resident Dr. Houman David Hemmati is furious that the city, which is beset by homeless encampments and drug addicts and still reeling from paying a quarter-billion-dollar sexual abuse settlement, is now handing out subsidies to open more cannabis dispensaries.

“I’m appalled that our city, already drowning in debt from a staggering $350-500 million molestation settlement and years of fiscal mismanagement, is now throwing tens of thousands in grants and rent subsidies at low-income individuals with prior cannabis convictions to start marijuana businesses —essentially using public money to subsidize drug sales in a desperate bid to generate revenue.” Hemmati told The Post.

“This so-called cannabis equity program prioritizes reparations for past arrests over fixing real community needs, like keeping our libraries open or addressing the homelessness crisis that’s turning our beaches into tent cities.”

Santa Monica’s so-called Cannabis Equity Program aims to “recognize and address the ongoing negative social impact associated with the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis policies on Black, Indigenous,
and people of color (BIPOC) and low-income communities in the City,” according to a FAQ page about the initiative.

The program will provide “micro-grants” between $5,000 and $25,000 to cover “local or state licensing fees, professional services or first-year operating expenses” for people looking to open dispensaries — in addition to lease assistance and rent subsidies in certain cases.

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The website states applicants must meet two out of three “equity criteria” in order to be eligible, including a past cannabis-related conviction or arrest, a household income less than 60% of the area median income where they live and those who have lived in Los Angeles between 1980 and 2016 who have been “impacted by past criminal justice policies” around marijuana prohibition.

At Santa Monica City Council meeting last September, an operator of the Harvest dispensary warned the governing body that its equity-focused program was misguided.

“The big tragedy that will happen for sure with the program is that just because if you look at the criteria for social equity, your low-income, you’re a victim of crime, that doesn’t give you business acumen,” the man who identified himself as involved with Harvest but who didn’t give his name told the council.

He suggested a “mentorship program” for existing canna-businesses to team up with would-be newbie pot shop owners under the program for guidance.

Hemmati questioned the whole premise of couching the program as equity the way the city has, and warned the downstream impacts could be more than anyone anticipates.

“It’s ironic and tragic that a place as progressive as Santa Monica is betting on pot profits to bail itself out, while sidelining the safety and well-being of its residents; this isn’t equity, it’s exploitation disguised as social justice, and it risks turning our vibrant coastal town into a haze of poor decisions and preventable tragedies.”

The city of Santa Monica is now accepting applications for its Cannabis Equity Program.