suffering. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is timo and i'm a san francisco native born and raised. i also am a cannabis business owner. i've been displaced from san francisco. i can't afford to live here and i can't afford to do cannabis business here so i had to go to it would be a misery if original san francisco people like this can't continue to have business here. don't let them leave like i had to leave. they are helping these people and they've been here from the beginning. they are hiring people from the neighborhood when they were in the mission. i'm here to say this needs to be passed. it should be a formality and i hope it will already go through. thank you. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, board. my name is arrow. i'm a san francisco native. i'm a former member of the board

of mental health seat number 12 i held for six years, i termed out after six years. i am here to speak for new relief for the veterans that are in here. i'm a veteran along with a lot of my other veterans who are here along with me. people that i live with. we all go to new relief and we have been going to new relief from the beginning. i have came from living in the streets to living in tenderloin to getting a suitable housing with my other veterans. i live in the veterans commons and it's a very nice place. and through new relief, i was able to rise up and come from these depths of being homeless and going and living in tenderloin and rat-infested hotels to living decent and through new relief, i was able

to get help with my mental illness through acupuncture and they have different types of therapies that they do there and it's been a lifesaver for me and i know a lot of other veterans here in have the same thing to say. please, please, help new reloaf. >> next speaker. >> >> how are you doing? as well as a veteran myself 2311 ammunition peck mission. what is going on is that dal provides, the ownership of

relief provides not only help and support for other small businesses like myself who have the ability to hire employees and helping other families using another different context it also basically gives people the ability to do what they're all begging you for which is they're begging you not to push them to heroine or towards opioids and they're bigging you to help them maintain their self respect and their dignity as long abiding citizens to purchase a good they feel helps them with everything from post traumatic stress all the way up to the daily rigors of things we face on a daily basis. the only thing that we know and this particular environment that has been given to us, is that the ownership of relief provides good prices, they are community-based and they interact with us and they help us do things that get our children, including mine, off of the streets and into a working environment where they can in

turn pay taxes which helps to pay your salary so please, please, take into account the people that have shown their faces in front of you are humble, most of them are nervous that's why their voices are shaking because they're only asking for one thing to be given a dignity to be able to purchase a product and a safe environment without having to be harassed or arrested or put in any type of inconveniences. >> next speaker, please. >> my name is alan steiner. i reside in oakland, california but i've been a licensing consultant in cannabis space for the past three years and i just want to call in, i want a second everything that everybody has said about the value of this business on the value of the plant and has just, we're talking about the longest operating cannabis dispensary in the city one that has fully

supported compassion and the value of that and one that has been a great neighbor, i have a friend who lived on lass ski and he cannot say enough good things about this business and i don't think can you live any closer to relief than on that street. right now as an industry we're dealing with a huge lack of shelf space that hurts every producer in the industry having the loss of a dispensary is a very, very deep wound. right now in this moment is the reason for this, is the change in ownership that led to a change in banking and a bank that does not want, that has challenges with being an owner on a cannabis business. we're not talking about a failure in compliance. we're not talking about a failure in being a good member of this community. this committee absolutely needs to vote yes on this.

the detriment is extreme. thank you, very much. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon. i've been a street artist for 35 years and a volunteer with the street fair for the past 42. i have seen a lot of things in this city and i've seen a lot of club is the green cross had to move and it's going to go out

and go over to oakland and you need the money to support the seniors and we need the medicine and do your job. thank you, very much. >> next speaker. >> my name is direct remills and i'm a retired air force veteran. i can tell you personally that they're good for the community. they go above and beyond to help you out. i mean, i like giving you deals and they're family oriented and i consider him family everyone in this door consider me family. i consider him where they went by land would be a benefit to the neighborhood. that's all i have to say.

thank you, next speaker. >> >> i'm pamela and i think relief should be given a medical cannabis sense pens reand they were good neighbors to the community all around and they should be given this permit. >> thank you, next. >> good afternoon. my name is victor flemming. i live at veteran's common here in san francisco. i'm here to support relief and i was in the military and i did the vietnam evac. i think you know what i've seen. without relief and compassion they supply the veterans with

the medicine and an awesome thing they do and we can't lose relief. we need them here in the city like randel said and with the remarkable work that people have working for hem and to lose that and please, please. keep relief. >> next speaker. thank you. >> good afternoon, i'm ronald jones. i'm also a disabled veteran and relief has been a big factor in my life. i also live at the veteran's commons and relief has been close by gotten -- they've

helped me in my depression and my pain management and they've also been a platform for operation evac which i attend regularly and it also helps me in my addiction problems and pain management and relief say good place. please, go for the relocation of relief. thank you. >> next speaker. >> >> my name is rudy. i'm a native of san francisco. a loyal and faithful 49er fan. i'm born and raised not too far from here but i wanted to support relief, my brother dale, he is a filipino owner. he has 100-year history of filipinos in the south of market. this is filipino heritage zone. this dude has been so instrumental in helping out a youth organization and i wasn't

going to come up here and speak until i heard everybody else. but this dude has been so under the radar helping out the people and -- >> keep them up here. he didn't ask for nothing he just said what y'all need for christmas. for the last 10 or 12 years he has been hooking up the kids in the community at the christmas parties with a gang of toys. i just want to come up here and represent for the brother. and they deserve what they would get. being a native of san francisco, let's keep this a san francisco thing. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, committee members. my name is nina parks. i'm born and raised here in occupied in san francisco. i run into delivery service and

i was amongst many activists that fought for the initial language of the equity program. i'm here in solidarity with the continued fight to work for the implementation of a just equity landscape here in san francisco. i have now just recently been voted into be the first chair of the cannabis oversight committee. sf has led the compassion movement. its value system is what has allowed us to get as far as we have in our fight for equity, diversity and inclusion and it has changed the landscape of conversation across the country. but we can't just all be talk. we need to see these policies implemented in a way that actually preserves an up lift legacy that all of these activisted in this community have fought for. i hear the community today and they have shown up here to tell us that they need a club that treats them like they're human and not just a number to meet a profit quota. we have a serious public-health issue here in san francisco. and we need to push -- even though we're pushing for

universal health hear we need a supporting caring community and mitigate the compounded trauma of being inlow come in this city. please vote yes to keep relief lit. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm mark, i'm a third generation san francisco an. i live with 108 veterans in the only neighborhood you can't grow pot. the relief and -- i was in the service and many friends haven't made it. through illness and through suicide, they're not here. programs like relief and operation evac have made a major difference and i thank the committee for its intention to forward a recommendation of approval to the board. thank you.

>> good afternoon, erika major and honorable members of the board of supervisors. my name is ryan miller and i founded operation evac, an organization to prevent veteran suicide and opioid overdose with reoccurring social support groups in partnership with cannabis dense pens res. when we launched a memorial day 2016, relief herbal co-operative was our first dispensary client and it's not only an honor but my morale obligation to advocate on their behalf. our work and service to welcome home warriors is only possible with a support of our generous dispensary hosts of which relief has led the way to ensure that the san francisco veterans won'ting left behind. the veteran population that we serve is among the vulnerable and deserving portions of our population. our members are mostly poverty class elders, and veterans of color. many of us are formally incarcerated, have experience with housing insecurity and

recovering from substance abuse. it's my privilege to report to you that we're experiencing transformative results in the community. that relief is curated. members are revealing hud is helping us get off the streets and we're choicing cannabis instead of opioids and street drugs. we're abstaining from alcohol and we're finding hope while sharing space in our safe container of camaraderie. relief is not only integral to our origin story but with your vote, you can also support san francisco's veterans in the future. said differently, we humbly request the supervisors of san francisco support ethical operators like relief and expedite their relocation process. we're in the veteran suicide prevention business and the veterans of operation evac depend on you. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is don now i'm a disabled veteran with a third

armour division and i just wanted to lend my support also to the relocation of rerelief and the no johnny come lately. they've been in the business a long time and some of the best compassionate care offered in that industry is being emulated by other groups because of what they saw relief do for so long to so many. i do ask you to support the compassionate care and the relocation of relief. >> hell oh i'm a member of operation evac. i have also been a member of relief since 2016. it helped me a lot with not getting in trouble in the streets and stuff like that and having a place to motorcycle cannabis and not worrying about the police breathing down my neck. worrying about where i'm going to stay and chill out of the rain and stuff like that.

being able to have that place where that and they also provided operation evac with a place to provide compassion cannabis with meditation for all the veterans there and its working really good for them. i'm just saying that i'm in support of them moving into a new place because they are amazing people and i always got smiles and they always made me feel good when i came in there. that's all i have to say. >> thank you, sir, next speaker, please. >> my name is julie sin claire. i work in soma close to where relief was located. i've worked there for nearly 14 years. i wanted to speak on their behalf because they're greatly missed in the neighborhood. they were always good for the neighborhood. i never, ever saw anyone who was

involved with the business or who was a customer of the business causing any sort of problems that people often believe are associated with cannabis. i was also a customer there. my father passed away in 2018 and they were very good about giving me as much information as i required and i also had a knee surgery during than time and i was able to safely access quality information and medicine to help me and i'm much better now. i'm a ballet dancer and i'm back in the studios again. so, that's all i wanted to say. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. if there are any other speakers lineup to your right, my left. otherwise this is the last speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors.

my name is hiedi and i'm a native san franciscan, a wife, a mother of two, and one of san francisco's two women cannabis business owners for 15 years servicing the south of market area. with a few more women on the horizon, which i'm so proud of, we've seen an explosion in the evolution of cannabis recently. however, there is one thing that re mains stagnant in this industry. federal law. after doing so, we still find ourselves evicted and our business shut down through the federal banking laws. they would allow others to have our land lots permitted to a new location. i am equity and i please ask you to support myself and future

equity applicants and all cannabis policies. i want to thank you the city for recognizing this issue and that operators in good standing need protections in place through no fault of their own finding thatr businesses. i appreciate your time and i respectfully ask that you vote yes on this proposed legislati legislation. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is vaughn and i represent a small cannabis retailer, who holds a medical cannabis permit and who was wrongfully evict bid a landlord in san francisco. with supervisor haney introduced this legislation, one the goals of the legislation was to protect small business who are vulnerable to eviction. because mcd holders are tied to their location small businesses are good actors can lose the goal is to provide protection to small businesses for equity business applicants that to

prevent big well-funded cannabis groups from pushing out small businesses in sf. i believe this legislation in its current form does not safeguard against potential abuse by landlords at the new location. we're not opposed to the legislation in principle, equity mcd applicants who have been abused by landlords. my client say perfect example. however, the current language of the legislation fails to consider behavior of the landlord at the new location. if the goal to prevent abuse and create loopholes, we encourage them to behavior the landlord at the new potential location. to ensure that no landlord abuse actually occurs at the contemplated new location, we requested it be amended to prevent portability where there's a wrongful judgment or forceable detainer judgment against the landlord that was successfully obtained by the prior m.c.d. holder in that location such as my client.

to ensure the legislation design to benefit only equity applicants and an amendment the permitment holder who moves to that location must have at least 51% opioid of the cannabis business for five to 10 years. after moving to that new location. we're willing to meet with the committee to discuss some of these proposed changes to the current version of the legislation. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is -- i was wrongfully evicted by my landlord. i operate a small business and also the permit order for m.c.d. to provide the protection to small business and should be also considered potential built bit lender at the new location. i'm not opposed to these regulations. i emphasize with applicants who have been billion dollar b buil. i would like to say how we could

prevent the new land you'll built otherwise it could be a danger of moving around another location and another location. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> hell o my nam hello. thank you for your time and thank you for listening. i'm here basically just to say please give relief what they're asking for. i've been a citizen here in san francisco for 25 years now. i moved here when i was diagnosed with aids. i knew this was the place to come to live and i would survive here. 33 years later, and countless dispensaries being closed and me having to look for new places, to get affordable medication, i don't think there is anymore in the city. i keep searching online looking and price and looking for prices that i can afford and it's not here. it's not here in the city anymore with the taxes. it's unaffordable.

i can go to relief and buy the same product for less than half the price that other places are selling it for. it matters to me. it matters to me to stay alive and to be healthy. i'm trying to get back to work. i'm in school. relief has been major in keeping me safe, keeping me alive and keeping me healthy. i just have to ask you, please, give them what they're asking for. thank you for your time. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is an tan. mtwan.before i was in californis in arizona, where i had an extreme drug issue. i was addicted to many, i guess,

problems or things that i should not have been taking. i came out here to california not in search of, i guess, a need to use but a way to get away from the things that i had done. with the medicine or the drugs from relief, i was able to ease myself back into the real world or at least a stable, i guess, mode of thinking. and with that, i was able to play football in college and win a state and national championship with the team that i had played for. due to the fact that i was able to come back to, i guess, a