Rapper Jay-Z and talk show host Bill Maher, are among several celebrities who want West Hollywood, California to become the weed capital of the world.
Both men are joined by Patricia Arquette, Woody Harrelson and other marijuana advocates in the city’s quest to become Emerald Village.
West Hollywood only has six marijuana dispensaries serving 35,000 residents concentrated in a mere two square miles.
The city is aiming to approve roughly 40 new cannabis permits over the next year according to a Los Angeles Times report.
“People who wouldn’t otherwise come to West Hollywood will come for the celebrity factor,” Scott Schmidt, the executive director of the trade group behind the campaign, tells the Times.
Jay-Z-backes the marijuana company The Parent Co. who recently bought the all-female-run West Hollywood dispensary Calma. Arquette is an investor in a cannabis lounge while Maher and Harrelson are behind a lounge and dispensary that is currently under construction, according to city officials.
“It should also be noted that the city has not seen a significant decrease in tax receipts from existing [cannabis] businesses as new ones have opened, indicating that there is capacity in the market for continued growth,” according to an April report from We Ho.
West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister tells the Times there’s been almost no opposition among residents.
“We have always been a little edgy,” she said, “and I think this fits in with our personality.”
“We are bringing in some really high-end, wonderful concepts,” West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Genevieve Morrill told the Times.
