To twist the hoary metaphor, teaching someone to fish is
\nneither noble nor a life-sustaining act if the supply of fishing poles is
\nconstricted and available only to the super-rich or would-be pescetarians
\nwilling to dive deeply into fly-and-tackle debt. <\/p>\n
In the same way, offering cannabis business licenses to
\nworking-class people, people of color, and others whose lives were most ruined
\nby the War on Drugs \u2014 provided they can pay a \u201clicense application fee\u201d they
\nmay not be able to afford \u2014 doesn\u2019t do anything to \u201cright the wrongs of the
\ndrug war,\u201d as legalization promises. It\u2019s just a reminder that legal cannabis
\nexists in a world that remains deeply unequal, promises are worthless, and
\n\u201csocial equity\u201d in the marijuana industry remains just a good idea.<\/p>\n
In Illinois, where state lawmakers legalized recreational
\ncannabis earlier this year and where the first day of legal sales is Jan. 1,
\n2020, regulators will issue up to 75 \u201cconditional dispensary licenses\u201d by May
\n1. That means existing medical-marijuana businesses will have a large head
\nstart. It also means that anyone wishing to try to enter the cannabis game has
\nto have $2,500 to potentially throw away on an application fee. For many, this
\nsum is not insignificant. <\/p>\n
Seke Ballard, a 35-year-old black entrepreneur with a Harvard MBA, gets this, and appears willing to do what government won\u2019t. The founder of Seattle-based cannabis funding startup Good Tree Capital recently announced that he will offer low or no-interest loans in order to cover the $2,500 fee for up to 100 social-equity applicants in Illinois<\/a>. <\/p>\n Applicants will be vetted and will have to pay the loan back at some point, but in addition to favorable and not predatory terms, they\u2019ll also receive \u201cthe support and knowledge they need to submit complete, compelling applications,\u201d as Ballard told the Chicago Sun-Times. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to provide you with the capital,\u201d he added, as In this way, Ballard is hoping Illinois can avoid the fate Illinois has gone further than some states in offering \u201csocial-equity\u201d licenses for would-be cannabis entrepreneurs who have been arrested or convicted of a cannabis-related offense or lived in an area \u201cdisproportionately impacted\u201d by drug prohibition. In other states where cannabis is legal, such equity has come, if at all, thanks to city-run programs such as Oakland, California\u2019s<\/a>, but the state appears to have done a poor job of letting qualified applicants know this.<\/p>\n Ballard, who now lives in Chicago and has re-centered Good A few presidential candidates have also flagged the cannabis \u201cWe\u2019re not going to wait on the state,\u201d Ballard said, according to the newspaper. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to wait on the city.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, would The post Entrepreneur Will Cover Fees for Illinois Equity Applicants<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
To twist the hoary metaphor, teaching someone to fish is neither noble nor a life-sustaining act if the supply of fishing poles is constricted and available only to the super-rich or would-be pescetarians willing to dive deeply into fly-and-tackle debt. In the same way, offering cannabis business licenses to working-classContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,3792,2544,170,2462,1051,12750],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39346,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39345\/revisions\/39346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nper the paper. \u201cWe expect to be paid back, but we\u2019re not trying to make a
\nprofit off of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nof other states and end up with a cannabis industry funded and run by almost
\nexclusively white males \u2014 at least some of whom wanted nothing to do with
\ncannabis until it became the next hot (and profitable) thing.<\/p>\n
\nTree\u2019s focus on Illinois, recently hosted an informational session at Good Tree.
\nDuring the session, it was discovered that good number of the individuals
\npresent did not know about funding and assistance available from the state. And
\nas it is, Illinois will only cover half of an applicant\u2019s permit fee, none of
\nwhich is recoverable if the application is not successful.<\/p>\n
\nindustry\u2019s pervasive, persistent, and glaring inequity problem. Public
\nshame-jobs or subsequent legislation may yet correct the problem, but until
\nthey do, as in other areas, it appears the private sector will have to fill the
\ngap.<\/p>\n
\nyou like to enter the cannabis industry, but find that the costs are too
\nchallenging?<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Entrepreneur Will Cover Fees for Illinois Equity Applicants<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"