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Colorado officials announced on Monday that the state has achieved a \u201cwildly important goal\u201d of increasing diversity in the legal marijuana industry\u2014but the data shows there\u2019s still a way to go before cannabis business ownership is on par with the state\u2019s population demographics.<\/p>\n
Nearly 17 percent of the state\u2019s cannabis businesses are now minority-owned as of January 1, the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) reported. Colorado had set a goal of at least 16.8 percent minority ownership in the cannabis sector by June 30, 2022, and that\u2019s already been narrowly exceeded by the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n
When data on licensee demographics started to be collected in July 2021, there was 15.2 percent minority ownership in the marijuana market. Now it\u2019s up to 16.8 percent.<\/p>\n
As of January 1, the state has also approved 50 social equity licenses for communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nVia Colorado DOR.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As one of the first states to legalize marijuana for adult use, there\u2019s been significant pressure on Colorado to ensure that the industry is equitable, benefitting those who have been most impacted under criminalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cColorado is demonstrating that intentionally revising state marijuana laws to be more equitable gets results,\u201d Shaleen Title, a former Massachusetts cannabis regulator and current CEO of the Parabola Center, told Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf one of the most mature markets can make clear progress, it\u2019s not too late for any market. And although there\u2019s always more to go\u2014we should all be aiming for proportional representation in ownership at the very least\u2014Colorado is setting and reaching reasonable goals,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for transparency and it\u2019s good for morale, and having more data on what\u2019s working at the state level is valuable to inform federal policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Disclosure: Title supports Marijuana Moment\u2019s work via a monthly pledge on Patreon<\/a>.)<\/p>\n As part of Colorado\u2019s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, Social Equity Licenses are one of the many ways our Marijuana Enforcement Division is supporting diversity initiatives in the cannabis industry. To learn more, visit https:\/\/t.co\/ye7c6WQJOZ<\/a> @ColoradoEcoDevo<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NljRlGtcuU<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 CO Dept. of Revenue (@CO_Revenue) January 21, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n A demographic breakdown of the new data<\/a> shows that while there\u2019s been an increase in minority ownership, the percentage of black people who own a majority stake in a cannabis business (2.9 percent) is still lower than the percentage of black people who live in the state (4.6 percent).<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a significant disparity when it comes to gender and marijuana licensing. MED\u2019s report<\/a> says that there are 1,535 men who own a marijuana business, compared to just 350 women.<\/p>\n And with respect to license type, white people have a notably more expansive portfolio compared to other races.<\/p>\n Via MED.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is also working to right the wrongs of prohibition outside of licensing. For example, last month he granted 1,351 pardons<\/a> for convictions of possession of two ounces or less of marijuana.<\/p>\n That move focused on people who were made eligible for relief under a new law that increased the legal cannabis possession limit for adults in the state, which Polis signed in May. At the time, he directed state law enforcement to identify people with prior convictions<\/a>\u00a0for amounts under the new, two-ounce limit.<\/p>\n Polis signed an executive order in 2020 that granted clemency to almost 3,000 people<\/a>\u00a0convicted of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana. And while earlier legislation that enabled him to do that in an expedited way applied to possession cases involving up to two ounces, his office declined to pardon those with more than one ounce on their records because that amount violated the existing state law.<\/p>\n As the state works to increase diversity in the marijuana industry, it\u2019s also collecting significant tax revenue from cannabis sales.<\/p>\n Last year alone, Colorado generated $423 million in tax revenue from cannabis<\/a>, the state\u2019s Department of Revenue reported last week.<\/p>\n Nearly $500 million of cannabis tax revenue in Colorado has supported the state\u2019s public school system so far, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Massachusetts Marijuana Tax Revenue Now Exceeds Alcohol By Millions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Colorado Meets Marijuana Industry Diversity Goal Ahead Of Schedule<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Colorado officials announced on Monday that the state has achieved a \u201cwildly important goal\u201d of increasing diversity in the legal marijuana industry\u2014but the data shows there\u2019s still a way to go before cannabis business ownership is on par with the state\u2019s population demographics. Nearly 17 percent of the state\u2019s cannabisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":52486,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52485"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52487,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52485\/revisions\/52487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Colorado Meets Marijuana Industry Diversity Goal Ahead Of Schedule<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"