Social Equity

Los Angeles is being sued over plans to issue cannabis delivery licenses exclusively to social equity applicants until 2025.

Washington state is one of the latest to address social equity in the cannabis industry, but business owners and potential social equity applicants say they have concerns about the state’s plan.

Jen Jackson is the founder and CEO of Be Jubie, a Baltimore-based CBD brand with a focus on wellness, restoration, education, and social justice.

Playboy Enterprises is joining cannabis advocates in a social equity and social justice awareness campaign to push for the “legalization, decriminalization and destigmatization of cannabis.”

A publicly-funded social equity incubator for cannabis edibles businesses has launched in Oakland, California.

Eaze has expanded its Social Equity Partners Program to feature Los Angeles-based brands. The program allows customers to selectively view, purchase from, and support disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

With the legalization and regulation of cannabis, numerous states have attempted to address the lasting harms of the drug war by creating social equity grants for entrepreneurs from impacted communities. In Massachusetts, a bill is being considered that would offer loans instead.

Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commissioner Shaleen Title says she is starting to feel “embarrassed” by inequities in the state’s cannabis industry.

Social equity advocates who were suing the city of Los Angeles have dropped their suit after officials agreed to process additional applications.

The Los Angeles city council has unanimously approved new regulations that will tighten up the cannabis social equity program and create rules for licensing new dispensaries in city neighborhoods that have already reached their cap.

Colorado’s governor has signed legislation addressing social equity concerns in the cannabis industry — the new law allows for additional low-level cannabis possession pardons and sets aside business licenses for social equity applicants.

Advocates have published a rebuke to a recent article released by MG Retailer, calling it an “irresponsible” representation of social equity efforts in the cannabis space.

New cannabis licensing and social equity recommendations from the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulations are under consideration today by the City Council.

Colorado lawmakers have approved legislation for social equity cannabis licensing and which gives the governor power to expunge low-level cannabis convictions from before the state legalized in 2012.

Illinois officials say the state is almost ready to begin awarding social equity cannabis licenses after Gov. J.B. Pritzker suspended the process in late April due to the pandemic-prompted shutdown.

Method Man is launching a cannabis business venture that will prioritize elevating entrepreneurs of color in the space.

Cannabis activists in Massachusetts are spreading a petition that calls for repealing a recent change to the state’s cannabis laws that set the ownership threshold for social equity applicants at just 10 percent.

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, Illinois Gov. Pritzker has indefinitely pushed back the date for awarding the state’s social equity cannabis licenses.

California officials from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development are disbursing some $30 million in grant funding for local governments to fund low and no-interest loans for social equity cannabis operators.

Washington state lawmakers have sent a bill to Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk that would implement a social equity program for the state’s cannabis industry.

Boston’s first cannabis dispensary licensed for adult-use sales has opened for business.

A hearing in Connecticut yesterday gave state officials, agencies, and stakeholders a chance to weigh in about the state’s governor-backed legalization bill.

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts is petitioning to block a previous court ruling that would force officials to license non-equity cannabis businesses.

A social equity bill in Washington that would also unlock out-of-state investments for the adult-use cannabis industry has received pushback from some industry advocates.