My name is Justin Lee and I founded Kusala Care LLC in 2021 with my friend and business partner, George Lutfey. We are a conditionally licensed cannabis cultivation micro-business that is seeking approval in the Borough of Oakland to operate in the new legal cannabis industry. George and I moved to Oakland September 2022 in order to be involved, contributing members of the town that we were hoping to operate our business within. We’ve loved living in Oakland so far and looked forward to being a positive force for improvement in the town. We’ve been actively involved in the Oakland council meetings, Oakland Green Team meetings, and hope to collaborate with the Shade Tree Commission moving forward in 2023.
The reason for this letter is in hopes to raise awareness and support of Oakland’s cannabis ordinance that was drafted on 12/20/2021. Oakland residents are 67% in support of adult-use cannabis businesses forming in town, as is Mayor Schwager. Oakland taxpayer money has been spent drafting this ordinance already. Cannabis businesses are the only type of business in Oakland that are contractually obligated to give 2% of their gross revenue to the town they operate in. Kusala Care has met every single state and local regulatory code that has been set forth for them, and is willing to evolve and adapt to the constantly changing regulations. We are a small, family-owned business started by two passionate friends who grew up in Bergen county and have been disparaged by the antiquated cannabis laws in this state.
We believe our Borough approval, needed to receive our final permit from the state to operate, is being purposefully delayed by the Oakland councilmen. We applied 8/20/2022 and a decision still has not been made, the councilmen have effectively frozen our application process by tabling this matter. Specifically, John McCann has been heavily suspected by multiple parties of colluding amongst the councilmen to push his own personal agendas rather than honoring the wishes of Oakland residents. Is John McCann the king of Oakland or was he voted in to represent the citizens’ interests? Does his personal feelings on cannabis justify a betrayal of his duties to his constituents? Our business will have no signage and no customer traffic, being a cultivation facility. We can add hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue to the town to reduce tax liability. No one will know we’re even in town. This man has, in our opinion, lied to you for your vote to advance his personal agenda.

George and I, along with our families, have already invested thousands of dollars into this project, including 4 months of rent towards a warehouse in Oakland that the town refuses to allow us to progress with. We will lose all of this money and time invested, along with a chance to enter the legal adult-use market in a timely manner, if Oakland continues to delay our application process.

Please sign our petition, come voice your protest to a man who doesn’t know the difference between monarchy or democracy. We believe this is a matter larger than simply cannabis businesses being allowed in Oakland. We firmly believe that this matter is addressing Oakland government overreach and political corruption. George and I would greatly appreciate your support in preserving the democratic process within our beautiful town of Oakland.

IG: @Kusalacare

Email: Weed@KusalaCare.com

Thank you and Warm Regards,
Justin Lee, 50% Founder Of Kusala Care
George Lutfey, 50% Founder of Kusala Care