South Sacramento Business Owners Clash Over Proposed Marijuana Dispensary

SACRAMENTO — Clashes over cannabis heat up as two small business owners battle in a south Sacramento neighborhood over a proposed new marijuana dispensary.

Diamond House Detox is a rehabilitation center that treats dozens of drug addicts every day.

“They come here because they feel it’s a safe place to get treatment,” said Vicky Magobet, CEO of Diamond House Detox.

The outpatient facility has been operating along Bruceville Road since February last year, but may now be welcoming new neighbors to the empty shop next door. Marijuana dispensary.

“I was very worried about my client,” Magobe said.

The concern is that patients like “Hawthorne” will be tempted to buy pot.

“I get triggered when I see something or know I might be holding onto something,” Hawthorne said. ”

La Krisha Young is the owner of a proposed cannabis store named Culture. She spent years in the city’s cannabis permitting process and actually signed the lease for this location months before the detox clinic opened.

“We were actually there first,” she said.

She participates in the CORE program in Sacramento. The program provides cannabis dispensary licenses to people whose families have been adversely affected by the war on drugs.

“This is going to change my life, the lives of our children across generations, and our entire community,” Young said.

Also, trying to get a license elsewhere would take too long, she said.

“It’s not an easily replicated process,” says Young.

To compromise, she even suggested removing any mention of marijuana from her marketing.

“I agreed to have nothing to do with cannabis logos, insignia, my signage or my name,” Young said.

Now, this controversy over drugs will be decided by the leaders of the city of Sacramento.

“Will the city be okay with this next to the high school?” Magobet asked. “I think we should be in the same category because I don’t think it will.”

At public rallies so far, dozens of people have testified both for and against the issue. A final appeal is due next Tuesday at the Sacramento City Council.