Oakland Businessman Brings Street Knowledge to Cannabis Business

By Bo Tefu | Impact Alameda and Photos by Auintard Henderson

Landing his first job at 13 years old through the Youth Employment Partnership, an education and workforce training program based in Oakland, minority business owner Alphonso “Tucky” Blunt says being broke and street smart helped fuel his entrepreneurial drive.

As an Oakland native, Blunt was affected by the war on drugs. He says he is familiar with how it harmed many people in his community, causing displacement, distress and public health issues.

“I went through childhood troubles,” he says. “My parents had fits of drug addiction, so I lived with my grandmother.”

“I’ve been in a shelter before, but I never let none of that be a deterrent,” he adds.

Blunt, the co-owner of Oakland-based marijuana dispensary Blunts+Moore, recalls learning the ropes of running a business from his father who owned a car detailing shop. Working
for his father in his teenage years helped him build rapport with community members who later became his clients when he started selling weed without a license.

Prior to starting his own business, Blunt worked for Alameda County as a specialist clerk for 13 years, until he realized that his weed selling side-hustle generated moreincome than his regular nine-to-five job.

His client base grew by word- of-mouth which inspired him to explore other business ventures including an online retail store and clothing line.

However, Blunt’s life took a detour in 2004 when he got arrested for selling marijuana without a license.

“I wanted to open a dispensary since 1999 but I never thought Black people could open dispensaries,” Blunt says. “It was a different time back then and I’d never seen a Black owner.”

Owning his dispensary was a full-circle moment for Blunt, who won his cannabis license from the city of Oakland’s dispensary permits lottery draw.

“I didn’t know I was going to win that lottery, so to win that lottery and then be where I am now, shows that it was meant to be,” he says. “I believe I was destined to do it at some point.”

In this Q&A, Blunt shares some details about his entrepreneurial journey, Oakland’s Equity Program, and the lasting impact of the war on drugs in minority communities.

How did you start your business?

I have a strong background in the cannabis business. I worked in dispensaries and was familiar with the ABC’s of the industry. My goal was to ultimately open a dispensary and have a space that I can share space with other vendors.

Being from Oakland, I’m really big on community and unity. I share my space with other vendors. I don’t charge them any money to come on-site. I also give them a discount on products if they come to the store.

I’m currently raising money for other dispensaries and equity brands by selling T-shirts. For every 100 T-shirts we sell, $500 of the proceeds go to creating equity.

My goal was to open a dispensary in my city — in the area where I caught my legal case, to show people that look, dress, talk, and act like me can be in the cannabis industry and thrive. It’s important for people who’ve been in similar situations as me to see that they can take up space in the industry. Black people set trends in the cannabis industry. To keep it real, we are the space, but we’re not represented well and that has to change.

What kind of support did you receive from the local government when you started your business?

The city helped us get our license. At that time, there were no loans and grants, none of which was in place when we started our business. We had to outsource and find funding, which is hard in most cases because most of the funders are sharks. The city then put us with a consulting firm that helped us get a loan from a company.

There was no incubation involved. Some people used nondisclosure agreements just to discuss and initiate a deal. Some people even tried to find us property deals that had liens on it. We’ve had our fair share of bad deals.

Overall, the city’s Equity Program is a great program. It just needs more education and funding. I don’t mean book education. I mean getting people on the board and oversight committees who’ve actually sold cannabis before. We can avoid people signing their life away with bad deals because they just see a little bit of money dangling in their face and they don’t know what to do.

Why do you think it’s important to have minority business owners in the cannabis industry?

Looking at other industries like alcohol and tobacco,we can’t really get access to those industries. Cannabis is one of the last industries we can actually tap into. It’s important because we can build generational wealth for our communities.

We can access different parts of the industry, not just growing and selling. We can get in this space and learn how to make the lights and grow rooms for the plants, or to make the thermometers used to test the water and products that go in the water for nutrients. There are so many avenues that we can get into. Once we tap into those spaces, the industry will be life changing.

How did the war on drugs affect you and your community?

It was a war on Black people and drugs. It was a failed War on Drugs. But the war on drugs was “effective” in the sense that everyone I knew went to jail.

For me to be able to come out of that system and be able to sell weed legally in the city, I was arrested in, then to have to work with the police captain, who is the same officer who arrested me back in 2004, tells you how far the war on drugs has come. We still have a long way to go. We can’t start a conversation about the war on drugs without trying to right its wrongs, which is why we need to vote for the right people.

With effective equity programs, we can also prevent a reverse war on drugs where businesses are struggling to survive and accepting crumbs on the dollar from investors. I believe we can fight for equity, but it will take time for our communities to heal from the war on drugs.

How has the pandemic affected your business?

In the first two weeks of the shelter in place, sales skyrocketed all over the cannabis space, everybody was stocking up to be in the house. By the fourth week sales leveled off and sales were going back to normal. Then we got looted. So, it’s been rough. This time we’re dealing with the coronavirus and the protests. We were affected just like all other businesses.

When the looting happened, I went online saying “don’t retaliate, educate.” Two weeks later we hosted a community fundraiser, hosting a concert, on Tupac’s birthday and raised over $10,000. I split the amount among four dispensaries, excluding our own. We also plan to work with local vendors and have food trucks back at the store. We are remaining positive. Business is slowly starting to pick up.