Marijuana legalization was supposed to usher in a new era of cannabis retailing—making pot widely available for medical and recreational use, and a tool to advance social equity and help communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Well, things are not going exactly as planned. In California, for example, an early adopter of equity licenses to spur minority-owned businesses, entrepreneurs say they are facing a high rate of theft, vandalism, racism, and high taxes, which are eating into profits and making it hard to remain open. Some states legalized cannabis largely to stop cannabis-related arrests and ensure that those same communities can profit from the legalized industry. Fact is, as the New York Times reports, many of these entrepreneurs are struggling while the largely white-dominated industry is making a fortune. They say that thefts are on the rise, often by well-organized gangs, and that police often fail to respond, while high state taxes and difficulty obtaining financing add to their woes. As big players, including tobacco companies, have swooped in to take a large stake in the industry, we have seen rampant commercialization that often flouts state laws on advertising and marketing—including billboards along highways in California—and ads targeted to underage consumers.
Meanwhile, New York State is trying to get around some of these problems by making giving priority for retail marijuana licenses to those who have been convicted of a marijuana-related offense. Gov. Kathy Hochul has said that early business owners in the state’s projected billion-dollar marijuana industry will be those most affected by the nation’s decades-long failed war on drugs. They will also have access to stockpiles of the drug grown by local farmers to stock shelves, and storefronts leased by the state—all part of a $200 million effort by Albany to advance racial equity in the new industry.