Community Engagement

To obtain a license to operate a cannabis business in Los Angeles, applicants must first go through the Annual Licensing Process. Beyond submitting a completed application, applicants are also required to attend a community meeting and appear before the Cannabis Regulation Commission (CRC). In these meetings, applicants are expected to answer questions about their application and address any concerns raised by their Neighborhood Council.

Ways to Participate

The Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) welcomes the participation of interested Neighborhood Councils in DCR’s Annual Licensing process. This page will describe (1) background on how the Annual License process works; and (2) how Neighborhood Councils (NCs) can participate at each stage.

Since 2018, DCR and the State Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) have issued Temporary Approvals or Provisional Licenses. All Temporary/Provisional licenses must transition to the Annual License process eventually. An Annual License is a more permanent form of licensure that requires community input and a public hearings before the Cannabis Regulation Commission (CRC), which ultimately approves or denies Annual License applications.. The process is summarized below.

Please note that licensees with either a Temporary Approval or Annual License are subject to the same operating rules and requirements.

The relevant Annual License process steps for NCs are described below:

Annual License step #1: First, within 30 days of the submission of a complete annual application, DCR sends a Notice of Complete Application by electronic mail to: (1) the Applicant; (2) the closest Neighborhood Council; (3) the relevant business improvement district, if one exists; (4) all addresses within 700 feet of the proposed location; and (5) and the City Council Office within which the Business Premises is situated. The notice will also provide the date of (1) the community meeting and (2) the Cannabis Regulation Commission hearing. DCR also posts the Notice of Complete Application to our website here.

Once the Notice of Complete Application is sent to an applicant, it has 10 days from the receipt of the Notice to contact the NC and offer to appear to address questions about the application. If the 10-day period passed, the applicant can still reach out and offer to appear before the respective NC. If the applicant fails to reach out or reaches out after the allotted time period, DCR will make note of it to the Commissioners.

• How can an NC participate?
  • The NC may schedule the applicant to appear at a NC board or committee meeting. Ideally, this should occur before the applicant’s Cannabis Regulation Commission (CRC) hearing date; this is when the Commission may approve or deny the license application. The NC may decline to hear the matter, or may hear the matter at a later date, although the license application may already have been reviewed and decided upon by the CRC. If the NC takes a position on the application before the CRC hearing date, the NC may transmit a letter for consideration by the CRC by emailing CannabisCommission@lacity.org.

Annual License step #2: DCR hosts a virtual community meeting for each application. During this meeting, DCR accepts testimony which is summarized in a report for the CRC. The community meeting is designed solely for the community to express any concerns or support related to the Annual License application; there is no discussion or decision made during the community meeting.

• How can an NC participate in a community meeting?
  • The NC or its individual members may provide input during the community meeting. Any individual who wishes to speak at the community meeting is provided 2 minutes to do so. The comments are then summarized and included in DCR’s report to the CRC.

Annual License step #3: Finally, the CRC holds a commission meeting to decide whether to approve or deny the Annual License application. The meeting’s agenda will be provided no later than 72 hours before the meeting. Public comment will be taken, and is limited to one (1) minute of general public comment per meeting and one (1) minute of public comment per agenda item, up to two (2) minutes per meeting. In total, an individual shall be limited to three (3) minutes of public comment per meeting.

• How can an NC participate?
  • The NC may transmit a letter for consideration by the CRC by emailing CannabisCommission@lacity.org. The letter should be emailed no later than 2:00 p.m. on the Thursday of the week prior to the week of the Commission meeting. If this deadline is missed, your submission will be accepted as a secondary submission. To learn more about submission deadlines, click here. The NC may be afforded additional time to provide public comment at the CRC meeting if the NC has filed a Community Impact Statement in accordance with the City’s Administrative Code. For information on how to file a Community Impact Statement, please click here. If no Community Impact Statement is filed, a NC member or representative may still provide public comment but they will be limited to a total of 2 minutes as described above.

Public Convenience or Necessity

If an Applicant is applying for a business license in a Community Plan Area of Undue Concentration, they must request that the City Council find that approving their license would serve the public convenience or necessity (PCN). As of September 9, 2024, the following Community Plan Areas are currently at Undue Concentration for retail operations:

• Central City
• Central City North
• Harbor-Gateway
• Sherman Oaks - Studio City-Toluca Lake-Cahuenga Pass
• Sun Valley - La Tuna Canyon
• Venice
• Westchester - Playa del Rey

Applicants requesting approval are required to engage with and seek written input from key stakeholders for the area in which the proposed Business Premises will be located. This includes, but is not limited to, the local Neighborhood Council, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), local chamber of commerce, and at least one substance abuse intervention, prevention and treatment organization within the Community Plan Area.

Members of the public may submit comments or documents concerning Public Convenience or Necessity requests at LACouncilComment.com. Applicants seeking a PCN request form can find it here.

Licensing Phases

After California voters approved Proposition 64 in November 2016, cities across the state needed to: one, decide whether or not to permit commercial cannabis activity; and, two, if it wanted to allow cannabis activity, create local laws to govern cannabis businesses. In the City of LA, this was accomplished by ballot measure. Specifically, Angelenos were asked to decide on Measure M, which passed by over 80% of voters in March 2017. Measure M gave the City Council the full authority to regulate cannabis-related activity within the City of Los Angeles. With that authority, the Department of Cannabis Regulation was established by ordinance on July 30, 2017.

The City of Los Angeles began providing Temporary Approvals to operate cannabis business activity in phases.

• Phase 1 - DCR began the licensing process for existing medical marijuana dispensaries (EMMD) in early 2018.
• Phase 2 - DCR began the licensing process for non-retail cannabis businesses (cultivators, manufacturers, testing laboratories, and distributors) that supplied EMMDs in mid-2018.

For both Phase 1 and 2, applications were accepted from already existing businesses operating under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which legalized the medicinal use of marijuana.

• Phase 3 was the first opportunity for those not currently in the cannabis industry to enter into the licensing process.
• Phase 3 Retail Round 1 - In 2019. DCR held a first come, first served process for an opportunity to apply for a retail storefront business. This was limited to Social Equity Individual Applicants.
• Phase 3 Retail Round 2 - In 2022, DCR held a lottery process to select individuals who could apply for a retail storefront business. This was limited to Social Equity Individual Applicants.