Read the full article by Ken Magri at The Sacramento Observer
Maisha Bahati stands proudly inside her new storefront. “We took so many risks,” she says. After four years of hard work and worry, Crystal Nugs cannabis delivery service opened a walk-in dispensary on J Street in Midtown Sacramento in November.
“This building had been boarded up for years. It was an eyesore,” Bahati says. “But we introduced ourselves, talked to people in the neighborhood, the Midtown Association, and got our conditional use permit.”
Crystal Nugs is Sacramento’s first Black and women-owned cannabis dispensary, and one of four new stores assisted by Sacramento’s Cannabis Opportunity and Racial Equity program.
“The CORE program helps entrepreneurs break into and operate in the regulated cannabis industry with support in everything from small-business education to advertising to networking opportunities and, of course, funding,” says Davina Smith, who leads the city’s Office of Cannabis Management.