Kyle Kazan used to patrol the streets of Torrance as a police officer. Now, Kazan is helping to raise funding for those who wish to enter California's marijuana industry.
Kazan is chief executive of Long Beach-based Beach Front Property Management, Inc., and a managing member of AP Investment Fund, LLC. Among AP Investment's clientele, there are plenty of marijuana businesses including Santa Ana's 11th dispensary Bud and Bloom as well as a 4-acre marijuana greenhouse in Santa Barbara County.
Ancillary businesses like Kazan's are immune from some of the pitfalls that cultivators face. “The thing to do with it is, you can buy a piece of property and you can make a loan to a dispensary,” Kazan told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “I don’t think it’s a great idea for our investors to be involved in an operating company just yet.”
Not every cop has the wrong idea when it comes to marijuana. Kazan served on the Torrance Police Department during the turbulent 90's in Southern California. Kazan has represented and spoken for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which promotes ending the pointless war on drugs. He left his role in law enforcement to devote his time to his investment business.
As many as 26 dispensaries in Long Beach will most likely be approved under recent measures. Nonmedical dispensaries will have to wait another year when Proposition 64 is implemented. “Everybody’s very interested in this space and everybody’s on the sidelines,” he said. “When it comes to putting cash on the barrelhead, we’re it.”
Kazan compared 2016 with the end of Prohibition. “[It's] almost like the end of Prohibition in 1933,” he told Yahoo Sports in a recent interview. With recreational stores opening up just around the corner, Kazan, like everyone else in the marijuana industry, expects to see more investment opportunities.
