Social Equity

Flowhub, a retail point-of-sale platform for cannabis dispensaries, announced on Tuesday the closing of $19 million in strategic funding. The sum includes a personal investment by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.

Keith Stephenson is the founder and CEO of Purple Heart, the longest-running cannabis dispensary in Oakland, California, and the country’s first Black-owned cannabis business.

Arizona has identified 87 zip codes where applicants for the state’s cannabis social equity licensed must have lived in recent years.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a measure by Mayor London Breed to update the city’s social equity program.

Connecticut’s Social Equity Council has asked regulators to charter new banks to support the state’s cannabis industry and give better opportunities for social equity applicants.

The California Department of Cannabis Control released guidelines and application requirements for a new $100M grant program aimed at transitioning provisional licenses to permanent annual licenses.

Connecticut’s Commissioner for the Department of Consumer Protection recently warned that the state’s roll-out of adult-use cannabis sales is likely to face delays.

Cara Wietstock, host of Fresh Cut by Ganjapreneur, meets with Rebecca Colett, CEO of Detroit, Michigan-based cannabis brand Calyxeum, and Founder of the social equity incubator The Detroit Cannabis Project, to discuss embarking on a career in cannabis, how to become a cannabis brand that empowers and engages with the surrounding community, and the negative impacts of corporate weed on the industry.

TILT Holdings is partnering with Long Island, New York’s Shinnecock Indian Nation to establish vertical cannabis operations on their tribal territory in the Hamptons.

New Jersey-based REEForm NJ is launching an initiative to put proceeds from every sale directly into the commissary accounts of incarcerated individuals who are serving time for non-violent cannabis crimes.

New Jersey’s proposed cannabis industry regulations include provisions for social equity and microbusinesses, and application fees as low as $100.

Virginia lawmakers weighed the possibility of launching retail cannabis sales earlier than planned by authorizing existing medical dispensaries to sell recreational cannabis on a temporary basis before retail sales officially begin in 2024.

The new Virginia Socialist Marijuana Coalition hopes to rally activists from across the state to push for more local equitable cannabis policies.

Humboldt County is set to award more than $2 million in grants through Project Trellis, the county’s micro-grant, marketing, and local equity program.

Critics of Arizona’s social equity cannabis rules say they don’t go far enough because the social equity licenses can be freely sold to anyone after they are awarded, whether or not the new holder would qualify for the program.

After a year’s delay, Illinois has awarded 55 conditional adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses for social equity applicants.

Connecticut’s Social Equity Council has approved a list of 215 areas disproportionately impacted by prohibition that will be prioritized for cannabis retail licenses and the state’s social equity program.

The lawsuit filed by a Michigan cannabis company that could have stopped Illinois’ cannabis licensing lottery has been voluntarily dropped.

Cannabis company Sozo Illinois Inc. has filed a lawsuit claiming a new law signed last week, which expands opportunities for social equity applicants, lowers their chances in an upcoming retail cannabis license lottery.

Raheem Uqdah is the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Curaleaf, the largest multi-state cannabis operator in the U.S.

A Springfield, Illinois community center is using cannabis-derived tax funds for educational and job training programs for 30 formerly incarcerated people.

Democratic senators unveiled the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act today, which seeks to federally legalize cannabis and contains social justice elements aimed at undoing the harms of prohibition.