Considering how lengthy national cannabis prohibition and the subsequent societal brutality of the War On Drugs were, it\u2019s quite daunting to consider that recreational cannabis has been legal in Colorado for nearly a decade. Since the 2012 bill Amendment 64 passed by an 11% margin, the Rocky Mountain State\u2019s cannabis industry has grown to support the livelihoods of some 41,000 people at its highest point of job creation and sold $1.7 billion in total retail sales in 2022 and more than half a billion dollars just in the first four months of 2023. Along with Washington State, Colorado absolutely paved the way and stood as an example of the tax revenue and job creation possibilities when states repeal their prohibitive laws on cannabis.<\/p>\n
Even with all the increasing job creation figures and the estimated $36.7 billion<\/a> of retail cannabis that will be sold in 2023, the various social impacts of both cannabis prohibition and the greater drug war are still painfully present in marginalized communities across the states with legal cannabis. Whether that be the thousands of people still incarcerated for cannabis-related charges or the many cannabis industry regulations that exclude individuals with any felonies on their record whatsoever from employment in the industry, the ramifications and continued disadvantages caused by the trillion-dollar national failure known as the drug war are still very much active.<\/p>\n To combat the many societal wrongs of the War On Drugs, states with legal cannabis have begun implementing social equity opportunities within their industries. Social equity is the inclusion<\/a> in the cannabis industry and business ownership space of people from zip codes and communities most impacted by the previous criminalization of cannabis. Prior cannabis policies disproportionately went after communities of color and other historically marginalized groups, while people from those same communities are now being woefully underrepresented in the legal industry. Needless to say, social equity policies are long overdue.<\/p>\n Despite being one of the first states to have recreational cannabis, Colorado didn\u2019t implement any social equity-related policies until 2020 with House Bill 20-1424<\/a>. Governor Jared Polis announced a further measure in 2023 to offer startup loans through equity-based lender NuProject<\/a> to social equity applicants in Colorado that range from $50-$150,000. This is truly a historic gesture for a state to sponsor social equity inclusion to such an extent.<\/p>\n Another historic moment for social equity in Colorado cannabis occurred just recently. The Color of Cannabis is a Denver-based organization<\/a> dedicated to bolstering minority representation and social equity opportunities in the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThe organization is focused on three pillars: criminal justice reform, policy reform and education,\u201d Executive Director Sarah Woodson<\/a> says. \u201cThe big reason why minorities weren\u2019t prioritized in our state was because there was no one representing them at the decision-making tables and that\u2019s how the Color of Cannabis was started. I don\u2019t think it was a purposeful oversight, but I just think that there weren\u2019t enough people there to represent the needs of folks of color.\u201d<\/p>\n The Color of Cannabis is making social equity history as they just announced the acquisition of a 9,000-square-foot turn-key manufacturing facility that will be wholly occupied by social equity businesses. To maximize the number of opportunities for social equity cannabis businesses, the organization plans on splitting the facility into six different individual suites, guaranteeing the space specifically for social equity businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re splitting the costs across the board and helping them navigate the entire process to licensing. I\u2019m excited because it\u2019s never been done in Colorado before,\u201d Woodson says. \u201cI chose the name \u2018The Color of Cannabis\u2019 because our organization is a mix of people\u2014Black people, brown people, white people\u2014all of whom have been negatively impacted by cannabis prohibition; they\u2019ve lived in impacted neighborhoods and have had families that have been incarcerated.\u201d<\/p>\n The Color of Cannabis offers a ten-week course<\/a> that teaches a range of topics, from \u00a0\u201cthe traumatic to the trivial\u201d as Woodson describes. The course is quite thorough and includes the basics of cannabis\u2019 millennia-spanning history; the rigorous dual-licensing process that Colorado has in place; the endless number of regulations and SOPs that cannabis operators must religiously follow; and problematic federal laws.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re helping them write a business plan in ten weeks and practice pitching so if they get in front of an investor, they have the right posture and they know their numbers,\u201d Woodson says.<\/p>\n The opening of the facility will certainly be a major milestone for social equity development in both the Colorado and nationwide industry. Woodson and The Color of Cannabis view the facility as a possible experiment as well which would pose the question if a small cannabis business can survive once you reduce the astronomically high overhead expenses.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, in Colorado, the industry is way more diverse.,\u201d Woodson says. \u201cWhen I first started attending cannabis organization meetings, there were no people of color. Then I saw 10, and then 15 and then 20. While it\u2019s small and incremental, it\u2019s definitely impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Colorado Makes Cannabis Social Equity History<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Considering how lengthy national cannabis prohibition and the subsequent societal brutality of the War On Drugs were, it\u2019s quite daunting to consider that recreational cannabis has been legal in Colorado for nearly a decade. Since the 2012 bill Amendment 64 passed by an 11% margin, the Rocky Mountain State\u2019s cannabisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,21,99,693,10191,17282,4166,420,17283],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66440"}],"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\/559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66441,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66440\/revisions\/66441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Colorado\u2019s Previous Social Equity Measures<\/h4>\n
The Color of Cannabis Is Greatly Expanding Social Equity in Colorado<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Colorado Makes Cannabis Social Equity History<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"