On January 15, 2025, SPARC Cannabis CEO Joseph Erich Pearson donated $5,500 to the Friends of James Gore for State Senate 2026 campaign via ActBlue. The Supervisor's allegiance to Pearson presents a multitude of conflicts.
Supervisor Gore appointed his own sister-in-law, Ms. Erin Gore, CEO of Garden Society cannabis, to the North Sonoma County Healthcare District Board.
Because of Ms. Erin Gore’s position on the Healthcare District Board, she is a designated filer, and must submit a Form 700 to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
She failed to disclose that she is the co-owner of Garden Parc LLC dba SPARC. Ms. Erin Gore was required by the FPPC to complete the Political Reform Education Program (PREP) course regarding statements of economic interest.
On July 26, 2024, Sebastopol Times Reporter Ezra Wallach published: Cannabis Equity grants go to top dogs in the industry - How Sonoma County's Cannabis Equity Program missed the mark.
“The county’s Cannabis Equity program gave four grants to individuals associated with SPARC, which took over Sebastopol’s first dispensary, Peace in Medicine. SPARC has three dispensaries in the county and four others around the Bay Area.”
”Timothy Crites, the COO of SPARC, got an equity grant of $39,687. According to the lawyer who submitted Crites’ application for the Cannabis Equity Program, Crites participated as a teenager in a drug diversion program in Indiana, after which the drug-related arrest was expunged.
This made him eligible for a grant meant for those most heavily impacted by the War on Drugs, even though he went on to attend the University of Michigan and law school at American University before becoming the production manager at the first cannabis company to get an adult-use retail license in any state east of the Mississippi.
Erich Pearson, the CEO of SPARC who has served on government advisory committees and the board of national industry trade groups, also got a grant.
So did SPARC associated individuals Barry Wood and Alex Pearson, who filed their application through the same lawyer as both Erich Pearson and Crites. They all used the same business address and used almost identical statements about what their grant money would be used for and how much they needed.
SPARC’s individuals were not the only grant recipients who acted in tandem with their business partners and submitted almost identical applications.”…
“As a business owner with a fiduciary responsibility to my investors, it is imperative to explore all available resources,” Pearson wrote in an email. “Ultimately, I applied for the grant, and the State/County determined that I qualified.”
Pearson’s notion that he was entitled to the grant is ironic, as SPARC promotes the idea of equity on its website and markets “social equity” brands in their store.
“Thousands of lives—predominantly within communities of color—have been negatively impacted by cannabis prohibition,” a page on their website reads. “While other industries have focused purely on profits, growth, and other capitalistic tendencies—the cannabis industry includes an agenda to right the wrongs of outdated laws and policies in order to create more equitable opportunities.”
In California’s small towns, getting a license for a dispensary or a grow can in fact be very competitive. SPARC has one of two allowed retail licenses in Sebastopol, has been adamant that they should remain the sole dispensary allowed in the town of Sonoma, and was among several applicants to seek one of two granted permits to open up a dispensary in Healdsburg.
In other words, SPARC competes, as all businesses do…”
