In Crime-Ridden Portland, Weed Industry Gets Twice as Much Funding as New Cops
Liberal city to fund weed grants to rectify 'past racially-biased cannabis policies'
Robert Schmad
June 7, 2023
As crime and homelessness strains Portland, Oregon, the city's liberal mayor has proposed spending more than $10 million on marijuana-related initiatives in the upcoming year, nearly double the amount requested to hire new police officers.
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Portland mayor Ted Wheeler (D.) made a point to stress his intention to increase investments in public safety, announcing in early May that he aimed to spend $5.3 million to hire 43 new police officers to better address rising vehicle and retail thefts. What the mayor didn’t publicly stress, however, is that the city will be spending almost twice as much on various marijuana initiatives in the city.
Wheeler's budget includes a proposal to put $3 million behind an "ongoing" Cannabis Fund and another $7 million behind a "one-time Cannabis Fund." Of the more than $10 million dedicated to marijuana programs, $2.3 million is earmarked for funding so-called Social Equity and Education Development grants, which disburse funds to rectify "past racially-biased cannabis policies and disparate cannabis-related arrests" and support "Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and women led/owned small business initiatives."
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/in-crime-ridden-portland-weed-industry-gets-twice-as-much-funding-as-new-cops/
