The city of Los Angeles issued a much-anticipated list of the 200 finalists in the contentious battle for social equity marijuana retail permits.
But it’s unclear when any of those businesses may be able to open their doors to customers.
The L.A. Department of Cannabis Regulation issued the list of 200 license winners following a settlement over the summer involving a lawsuit that sought to throw out results from the licensing window in September 2019.
The settlement resulted in a doubling of the number of available business licenses, from 100 to 200.
All 200 must now undergo further processing until they can receive temporary approval to begin sales.
A DCR spokesperson did not respond to a request for further comment on Thursday.
But Johnny Sayegh, spokesman for the Cannabis Equity Retailers Association, said the earliest any of the 200 will be open is the second quarter of 2021.
“There are people in the community who are basically ready to go,” Sayegh noted. “They just have to get the temporary approval.”
Still, the naming of the 200 marks a “milestone” in the city’s social equity program, which DCR Director Cat Packer said in a statement makes it “the nation’s largest cohort of social equity applicants.”
