Owner Steve DeAngelo at the Harborside marijuana dispensary in January 2018 in Oakland, Calif. | Mathew Sumner/AP PhotoWith a founder who is one of the pot world’s most legendary activists and a board that includes Jim Belushi, Melissa Etheridge and two sons of Bob Marley, the
“What we are missing is funding,” Lyman said. “We don’t need you to come in here and reinvent the wheel. They refused to hear that message.” A prison reform activist named Weldon Angelos convened the meeting to rally cannabis players around a common goal: getting people still locked up for marijuana offenses out of prison. Angelos himself had
Steve DeAngelo, CEO, center, and brother Andrew DeAngelo, CRO, right, make the first sale of recreational marijuana at Harborside marijuana dispensary on Jan. 1, 2018, in Oakland, Calif. | Mathew Sumner/AP Photo “I declined the invitation because Mission Green was unable to provide me with the information I needed to be effective as an industry liaison and fundraiser,” DeAngelo said in an emailed response to questions from POLITICO. “Proof of non-profit status; budget; operational plan, and a list of officers."
Money was incredulous. “People on parole and probation can’t work in the cannabis industry!” she said, reflecting the well-known reality that the federal government has yet to recognize the legality of the cannabis industry. Lyman described dozens of conversations over a series of months in which she discussed with LPP officials how best to tailor a reentry program. But after she spent dozens of hours of work and reached out to additional partners for the project, LPP declined to move forward.
For her part, Lyman shared copies of a budget plan she sent to Gersten in September 2019 detailing the costs for various items, including retainers for case managers from a Los Angeles employment nonprofit called the Center for Living and Learning, rentals of facilities and equipment, and more. The estimated cost of the program was about $73,000, according to the preliminary budget.