Gorilla Rx Wellness Co.
Cannabis store in Los Angeles, CA
- Address
- 4233 S Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90008
- Phone
- (323) 903-6755
- Website
- gorillarxwellness.com
About Gorilla Rx Wellness Co.
Gorilla Rx Wellness Co. is a Black women-owned, women-led cannabis dispensary located at 4233 Crenshaw Blvd. in the Crenshaw and Leimert Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The company describes itself as one of only a handful of Black women-owned dispensaries among the roughly 200 operating in Los Angeles, and it markets itself as "the House that the People built." Gorilla Rx offers online ordering and in-store shopping for cannabis products, along with branded merchandise sold through its website. The company also assists prospective patients with applying for a California Medical Marijuana Card entirely online, walking customers through registering with a physician network, completing a medical questionnaire and video consultation with a licensed California doctor, and receiving same-day certification, with an option to register for the state's Medical Marijuana Identification Card program for tax savings. Beyond retail, Gorilla Rx positions itself as a community-oriented wellness provider, publishing survey requests for customer input on its Community Benefits Plan and hosting a cannabis equity training center aimed at uplifting the next generation of Black entrepreneurs in the industry. Its website also compiles press coverage of the company's advocacy work, including features from the Los Angeles Times, Politico, Weedmaps, and Forbes documenting its fight for social equity and cannabis justice for communities disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs. The company sells its cannabis products online for delivery or pickup and can be reached at its Crenshaw Boulevard location or by email and phone.
Gorilla Rx grew out of the founders' 2008 launch of Gorilla Life Beverage Co., a chlorophyll drink sold to fund a nonprofit called Sweet Strings, an inner-city youth orchestra founded by Kika Keith in South Central Los Angeles. That beverage business, which reached Whole Foods shelves in Southern California, Arizona, and Hawaii, gave the founders a decade of experience in manufacturing, distribution, and regulatory compliance. When the City of Los Angeles launched its Cannabis Social Equity Program in 2017 to promote equitable ownership in the cannabis industry, the team pivoted into cannabis, securing a lease in Crenshaw, a neighborhood where they had deep community ties. Facing predatory investors, rent hikes, and a licensing process later found to be tainted by corruption, Kika Keith and other applicants organized as the Life Development Group, mobilizing hundreds of South LA residents and partnering with neighborhood councils and the California Minority Alliance to demand reform of the city's Social Equity Program. Their organizing helped prompt the city to suspend and revise the licensing process. Gorilla Rx opened as the product of that years-long fight, describing itself as Black feminine resilience and advocacy made physical, and as a promise of a more equitable cannabis future for South Central LA.
Services
- cannabis dispensary
- online cannabis ordering
- medical marijuana card assistance
- cannabis equity training
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