{"id":52901,"date":"2022-02-14T12:56:44","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T20:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/02\/14\/washington-lawmakers-accused-of-breaking-promise-to-expand-marijuana-licensing-to-address-equity-concerns\/"},"modified":"2022-02-14T13:45:33","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T21:45:33","slug":"washington-lawmakers-accused-of-breaking-promise-to-expand-marijuana-licensing-to-address-equity-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/02\/14\/washington-lawmakers-accused-of-breaking-promise-to-expand-marijuana-licensing-to-address-equity-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Lawmakers Accused Of Breaking Promise To Expand Marijuana Licensing To Address Equity Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To help more people of color enter the legal cannabis industry, some want the state to allow more stores to open. But the plan is a tough sell.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Melissa Santos<\/a> \/ <\/strong>Crosscut.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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Raft Hollingsworth is tired of being one of the only Black people growing and processing cannabis in Washington State. As the owner and lead grower of The Hollingsworth Cannabis Co., he\u2019s seen how difficult it is for people who look like him to break into the legal pot industry.<\/p>\n

Now, a decade after Washington State voters legalized recreational weed, he is urging state lawmakers to do something to improve that picture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hollingsworth is supporting a plan that would increase the statewide number of cannabis business licenses, allowing more people to enter the industry and more pot businesses to open. House Bill 2022<\/a> would also reserve those new licenses for members of communities most hurt by the war on drugs. The state last increased the number of cannabis retail licenses in 2016, while the window to apply for new producer and processor licenses has been closed since 2013.<\/p>\n

But the proposal has faced stiff opposition from lawmakers who don\u2019t want to add more pot shops, as well as from owners of existing cannabis businesses, who worry the industry can\u2019t absorb all those new licensees.<\/p>\n

This past weekend, the measure\u2019s prime sponsor, state Rep. Emily Wicks, D-Everett, said she doesn\u2019t see the bill moving forward as a result of those concerns.<\/p>\n

Groups that have been working years to diversify the state\u2019s pot industry are frustrated and outraged by that news.<\/p>\n

Darrell Powell, an officer with the regional NAACP, said dozens of Democratic lawmakers promised him they would support HB 2022 to help address racial inequities, but they appear to have gone back on their word. Both chambers of Washington\u2019s Legislature are controlled by Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been victimized by this war on weed, war on drugs,\u201d Powell said.<\/p>\n

After all of that, he said, \u201cWe are not going to negotiate away our equality in a blue state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea behind HB 2022 is to help more people of color enter the state\u2019s pot industry, which right now is mostly<\/a> white, despite a history of Black and Latino people being arrested at higher rates for marijuana possession.<\/p>\n

While the latest U.S. census data shows that only about two-thirds of Washington State is white, 85 percent of marijuana growing and processing businesses in the state are majority white-owned, according to data reported to the state Liquor and Cannabis Board. For marijuana retail shops, about 81 percent identify as having majority white ownership.<\/p>\n

And, while more than 4 percent of the state\u2019s population is Black, state officials estimate that Black people have a majority stake in only about 1 percent of the state\u2019s cannabis producing and processing businesses.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a total of 16 businesses, one of which is Hollingsworth\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get people into the industry so the industry can thrive, so the industry can be more diverse,\u201d said Hollingsworth, who serves on the state\u2019s Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force. Recommendations from that task force, which the Legislature created<\/a> in 2020, formed the basis for HB 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity is good for the industry,\u201d Hollingsworth said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for new ideas, it\u2019s good for the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As currently drafted, HB 2022 would allow up to 304 new pot retail stores and 200 new cannabis producing and processing businesses to open over the next eight years.<\/p>\n

Right now, the state has capped retail licenses to allow only 556 cannabis retail stores statewide.<\/p>\n

Wicks, the lead sponsor of HB 2022, said that when the state\u2019s marijuana system began, officials were concerned mostly with processing license applications quickly. But, she said, \u201cNothing was implemented to ensure the limited number of licenses that were distributed were distributed in a way that restored the lives of families, of those most targeted by unfounded fears and subjective laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

That meant \u201clicenses went to those with existing capital and resources\u2014the connected and the wealthy\u2014not the many people who engaged in this once illegal market,\u201d Wicks said during a January 28 public hearing before the House Commerce and Gaming Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasing the number of licenses is the clearest path toward righting this historic wrong and providing opportunity for all,\u201d Wicks said.<\/p>\n

As written, HB 2022 would open up 38 new cannabis retail licenses and 25 new producing and processing licenses each year through 2029.<\/p>\n

At first, those licenses would only be available to people participating in the state\u2019s cannabis social equity program. Then, beginning in 2030, half of new cannabis business licenses would be reserved for social equity applicants, while the other half will be available to other aspiring pot entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Jim Buchanan, president of the Washington State African American Cannabis Association, said setting licenses aside for social equity applicants is necessary because of how many opportunities Black Washingtonians have been excluded from\u2014not just in the cannabis industry, but across the board.<\/p>\n

The goal is to give Black Washingtonians an opportunity to build generational wealth, he said, particularly given how they have been historically overpoliced for cannabis offenses. A 2012 study<\/a> found that, in the decade before Washington voters legalized pot, police in Washington state arrested African Americans for marijuana possession at 2.9 times the rate of whites, despite Black Washingtonians reporting lower rates of marijuana use. The same study found that police arrested Latinos and Native Americans for marijuana possession at 1.6 times the rate of whites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to put a measure to what racism has been for the past 420 years, and allow us to have a piece of that industry that we went to jail for,\u201d Buchanan said.<\/p>\n

Owners of existing<\/a> pot businesses, however, have resisted the idea of increasing the number of cannabis retail stores by as much as 55 percent in the next eight years.<\/p>\n

Ad\u00e1n Espino Jr., the executive director of the Washington Craft Cannabis Coalition, said there\u2019s a danger of flooding the market with new cannabis businesses and destabilizing the industry in the process. His organization supports another measure that would direct $125 million per year in pot tax revenue<\/a> toward communities hurt by the war on drugs, but opposes HB 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe market at large remains oversaturated, to the point of creating price volatility for all licensees,\u201d Espino told members of the House Appropriations Committee on February 5.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWe are concerned that there is a false promise of equity being made by pushing hundreds of new licenses, in an industry that sees only 42 percent of its businesses turn any sort of profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of HB 2022 would also try to help new cannabis business owners succeed after they receive a license. The measure would earmark $22.5 million for grants and low-interest loans to help social equity licensees get their businesses off the ground. Among other things, the money could be used for buying equipment or renovating a space so that it meets state and local licensing requirements.<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth said that assistance is particularly important for people who want to get into growing cannabis, because starting a farm requires so much upfront investment. With marijuana still illegal at the federal level, getting loans from banks can be especially difficult.<\/p>\n

Those grants and loans would be paid for using a portion of the tax revenue the state collects from marijuana sales.<\/p>\n

Yet some lawmakers are worried about using any state money to help grow pot businesses\u2014and how that might look to their constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we expanding marijuana in our state right now? What is our priority here?\u201d asked state Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, at a February 7 meeting of the House Appropriations Committee. \u201cWhat are we going to go home and tell Washingtonians that we did? \u2018Yeah, we decided to grow retail weed and we decided to spend some of your money to make sure we did that?\u2019 \u2026 I just don\u2019t think this is the right direction for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wicks said those kinds of arguments have resonated with many of her fellow Democrats. On Saturday, she said House Democratic leaders told her that they don\u2019t see a way for HB 2022 to advance out of the House. Tuesday marks a key deadline for bills to clear the chamber floor, or else be considered dead for the session.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, and House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, didn\u2019t respond immediately to requests for more information.<\/p>\n

Buchanan said he doesn\u2019t understand why lawmakers would create a task force to advise them on improving social equity in the cannabis industry, then ignore the recommendations the task force spent more than a year developing. \u201cIt was all for show,\u201d Buchanan said.<\/p>\n

He and Powell said they plan to mobilize and try to oust Democratic lawmakers who refuse to support this year\u2019s measure. All House members are up for election in November, along with half the members of the state Senate.<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth said his goal isn\u2019t for the state to permanently subsidize minority-owned businesses. Instead, he sees the proposed grants, loans and new licenses as a form of restorative justice\u2014a way to help people get their footing and have a chance to succeed on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war on drugs hurt his community so much. So, let\u2019s put money back into something,\u201d Hollingsworth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea isn\u2019t to be some sort of charity forever. The idea is to get these people a leg up to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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Visit crosscut.com\/donate<\/u><\/a> to support nonprofit, freely distributed, local journalism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Maryland Lawmakers Take First Step To Putting Marijuana Legalization On 2022 Ballot With Hearing On Two Bills<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Washington Lawmakers Accused Of Breaking Promise To Expand Marijuana Licensing To Address Equity Concerns<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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