Washington State Approves Cannabis Social Equity Program
Tue / Mar 17th
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.
The concept of social equity deals with justice and fairness within social policy. In the cannabis industry, social equity programs work to supply business aide to those who have been previously incarcerated for doing cannabis business. Learn about social equity in cannabis in the articles and stories below:
Tue / Mar 17th
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.
Mon / Mar 9th
Boston’s first cannabis dispensary licensed for adult-use sales has opened for business.
Tue / Mar 3rd
A hearing in Connecticut yesterday gave state officials, agencies, and stakeholders a chance to weigh in about the state’s governor-backed legalization bill.
Tue / Feb 25th
The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts is petitioning to block a previous court ruling that would force officials to license non-equity cannabis businesses.
Tue / Jan 21st
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.
Fri / Jan 10th
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo renewed his pledge to legalize cannabis during his 2020 State of the State address this week.
Fri / Jan 10th
Cresco Labs in Chicago has opened the application period for the company’s community business incubator program called SEED, or Social Equity & Education Development.
Thu / Jan 9th
Labor unions have identified the cannabis industry as an opportunity to boost membership and are pushing for progressive cannabis reforms that emphasize equity and fair labor practices.
Wed / Dec 18th
An upcoming San Francisco dispensary has received the city’s first social equity cannabis business license; the shop is expected to open in the city’s Castro District before the end of the year.
Tue / Dec 3rd
Evanston, Illinois has announced a plan to leverage adult-use cannabis taxes to provide financial assistance for minority communities who were most adversely affected by drug war policies.
Mon / Dec 2nd
As the first piece of federal legislation that would end cannabis prohibition to make it through committee, the MORE Act deserves a closer look; unfortunately, the bill is expected to be dead on arrival if it ever reaches the Senate.
Fri / Nov 1st
Los Angeles’ latest cannabis retail licensing round was thrown into turmoil this week after City Council President Herb Wesson called on regulators to stop issuing licenses and to launch an independent audit of the system.
Thu / Oct 24th
Cannabis regulators in Maryland plan to hire private firms to investigate the state’s licensing review process and to verify information contained in the applications submitted by high-ranking businesses.
Tue / Oct 22nd
New Mexico’s adult-use legalization task force has handed in its final report to the governor; the report suggests low-level expungement policies and predicts up to $620 million in annual cannabis sales after five years.
Wed / Sep 25th
Massachusetts regulators voted 4-1 in favor of home delivery and social consumption rules; licenses for the two new business types will be made available first to social equity and economic empowerment applicants.
Mon / Sep 23rd
Because of Massachusetts’ host community rules and a general lack of funds, social equity applicants in the state are unable to compete fairly with larger, better-funded cannabis firms, according to Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman.
Wed / Aug 28th
Washington state regulators are considering what they call “Cannabis 2.0” reforms to the state’s adult-use industry, which could include a social equity program and the abandoning of the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system.
Thu / Aug 22nd
Weedmaps will no longer allow unlicensed cannabis businesses to list or advertise on their platform; additionally, the technology firm announced a new social equity program to benefit minority entrepreneurs in the cannabis space.
Thu / Aug 1st
Massachusetts has awarded the first provisional license under the state’s social equity licensing rules to Pure Oasis, a Boston-based dispensary; the owners say they will hire locally and hope to establish a business incubator.
Tue / Jul 23rd
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler and Sen. Kamala Harris are introducing a federal cannabis reform bill called the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to both decriminalize cannabis and set up the expungement of prior cannabis convictions.
Tue / Jul 23rd
Michigan’s cannabis regulators have announced a plan to cut fees on cannabusinesses in 19 municipalities that were disproportionately affected by the plant’s prohibition, as per the legalization initiative approved by voters in 2016.
Thu / Jul 11th
Federal lawmakers yesterday hosted the first-ever bipartisan hearing to recognize and address the racial disparity in cannabis laws and enforcement actions. During the hearing, members from both parties pushed for the end of prohibition.
Tue / Jun 25th
Illinois is officially the 11th state to legalize adult-use cannabis and will be the first state to regulate cannabis sales via the legislature. The new law, signed this morning, will also set up nearly 800,000 prior cannabis convictions for expungement.
Thu / May 30th
Applications are flooding in for Maryland’s 14 new medical cannabis operator licenses; the additional licenses are aimed at increasing the number of minority- and women-owned businesses in the industry.
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