Despite the promise of social equity leveling the playing field in the marijuana industry, most diversity applicants and license holders believe the cards are stacked against them.
From Los Angeles to Boston, common obstacles include limited access to capital, complicated application processes, real estate priced well above market rates and bureaucratic logjams.
High Haven, a female-led, minority-owned marijuana company, secured five conditional business licenses in Illinois after suing the state over the social equity application process.
More lawsuits have been filed against the state of Connecticut by applicants who failed to win marijuana cultivation permits through the social equity program.
The window for marijuana social equity retail license applications to be submitted in New York state will last a little more than a month, beginning Aug. 25 and ending Sept. 26.
Connecticut marijuana regulators have identified the 16 large social equity cultivators approved to take the next step to grow for the adult-use market, and have asked those applicants and their backers to submit additional information for a background check.
The Denver City Council is considering a proposal that would require marijuana retailers to use only social equity-owned transporters for delivery to customers.
Connecticut made an important first step toward issuing adult-use marijuana licenses on Tuesday, prompting Gov. Ned Lamont to say a market launch could be only six months away.
The failure of a key marijuana bill in Arizona’s Legislature has triggered an angry round of the blame game by social equity advocates, who charge that more established companies torpedoed the bill because they want to keep the state’s cannabis market to themselves.
The state of New York has chosen “premier minority-led investment team” Social Equity Impact Ventures to manage its $200 million marijuana industry social equity investment fund.
New York is set to inject $200 million into the local marijuana real estate market, leasing up to 150 retail properties that will be given to social equity businesses to give them a leg up in the state’s new recreational market.
Illinois marijuana regulators awarded 48 additional craft grow licenses in an additional step to diversify the industry.
Los Angeles has revised its cannabis ordinance and tweaked some other related rules in an effort to speed up business license application processing and approval timelines.
