Meet Kika Keith, the first black woman to own a pharmacy in LA

The past year has been a good one for Kika Keith, co-founder of the Social Equity Owners and Workers Association (SEOWA) and most recently owner of Gorilla Rx Wellness Co., the first pharmacy in Los Angeles owned by a black woman.

You may know Keith from the documentary series Uprooted, Weedmaps 2020, which highlights California’s long and complex road to cannabis legalization. On the third installment in the series, she spoke about the lack of fair cannabis regulations when it comes to licensing, especially for people of color. The constant rule changes, high taxes, and underdeveloped social justice programs have made it extremely difficult for black and brown Californians to thrive in the cannabis industry and continue the story of systemic racism associated with prohibition.

Like many other applicants in the Los Angeles Social Equity Program, Keith fought for three years to get a license for her pharmacy. During this waiting period, the retail properties that applicants had to secure for their application remained uninhabited. At the time of the shooting of Uprooted, Keith’s window on Crenshaw Boulevard had been idle for almost two years due to this botched application process. “We ended up filing a lawsuit through [SEOWA] and finally settled on 100 additional retail licenses about nine months later, “said Keith.

“And even after that process, it was 230 days after my application was received … and all the while paying an exorbitant rent on vacant property, the first African American woman to open a pharmacy and operate it in Los Angeles.”

Raised in the area where she now runs her pharmacy, Keith was welcomed with open arms by the community on opening day. “I always call it the house people built because so many people fought side by side with me walking back and forth to town hall to make sure we could keep our doors open while we waited actually get a license. “

When asked why she chose to open her shop in her own community, she said that urban communities are often not viewed as viable business locations, but that this is simply a fallacy. For Keith, it’s not just about building wealth for her own family, it’s about investing in the community she loves through education. “We hired people from the community. We also intend to support community arts programs for youth and wellness in our community, it’s just so well received, ”she added. “I think we’re creating a new model for what the cannabis industry should look like.”

The grand opening of their pharmacy is a huge win for Keith and other Social Justice Program applicants, but much remains to be done to ensure that the cannabis sphere is fairer and more accessible to exactly the communities intended by benefit from legalization.

How to ensure a fairer future for cannabis

In order for a level playing field to finally prevail in the over-regulated cannabis market in California, legislators and regulators must also commit to reinvesting in the communities damaged by this system.

Keith believes it all starts with education and outreach. Without training in areas such as fundraising, operations, and investor relations, applicants for the social equity program will be doomed.

“I had to force myself to sit down at the table. I have not yet seen progressive guidelines that have a stakeholder scrutiny committee that is actually part of the implementation of actual guidelines that affect the most damaged communities. So if we don’t take part in the development of guidelines, they cannot create a program to benefit us. “

Individuals seeking retail licenses not only need a seat at the table, they also need access to resources. “The city really needs to start thinking about how to implement these programs, not just opening them up. At the heart of this is a budget, and you can’t name a city that has a sizeable budget to start a social justice program. In 2018, the city of LA was allocated $ 10 million for social justice, and police enforced it after about five months of the program, ”explained Keith.

“I think two things have to be done. First, the state doesn’t even have a definition of social justice. And when you say you have a nationwide interest in social justice but the state can’t even define it clearly, that’s a problem … assigning these cities. I would easily say we need more money, but we don’t even get access to the money we got. “

As for what we can do at the individual level to bring about change in social justice, Keith suggests helping black-owned companies first. While the state has a lot of power over how fair the cannabis market is, we as consumers have the power to vote with our dollars. “Ask where the Black and Brown brands are, where the social equity brands are, because you’ll find that most retail stores don’t even have Black-owned brands, except maybe one or two, the popular rappers Brands or the sports brands. ”

Finally, Keith urges consumers who support social justice to speak up, be it at city council meetings or on their social media pages. Her final advice: “Keep asking what happens to the war on drug communities as the cannabis industry continues to grow.”