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\u201cThat leaves a lot of room for other people to come in on the backside, people who are already in the industry, people who are not of color.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n When it comes to racial equity, state Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove of Kansas City and St. Louis City NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt typically land on the same side.<\/p>\n But on Amendment 3\u2014the constitutional amendment that legalized recreational marijuana in November\u2014they couldn\u2019t be further apart.<\/p>\n On\u00a0Monday morning, they both appeared on KCUR 89.3\u2019s Up To Date to talk about the lack of racial equity among marijuana-business license holders in Missouri. Both agree that Black communities have long felt the brunt of\u00a0marijuana criminalization, so Black business owners should be able to benefit from Missouri\u2019s soon-to-be\u00a0billion-dollar industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n But where they clashed was whether or not the state\u2019s new \u201cmicrobusiness licenses\u201d<\/a>\u00a0program, a provision in Amendment 3, can bridge that gap.<\/p>\n These are small-business licenses \u201cdesigned to allow marginalized or under-represented individuals to participate in the legal marijuana market,\u201d according to the state website.<\/p>\n Even with the microbusiness program, Bland-Manlove believes the new law cements in place an already\u00a0distrusted, inequitable business licensing system established when medical marijuana was approved in 2018. Yet Pruitt\u2019s fervent support for the program and other the equity measures in Amendment 3\u2014including expungements of past marijuana offenses\u2014shows there\u2019s still a strong divide among social justice leaders\u00a0on how the recreational marijuana law will impact Black Missourians.<\/p>\n Listen to KCUR segment<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Steve Kraske, who hosts the daily public affairs show on Kansas City\u2019s NPR station, asked Bland Manlove if she believes\u00a0\u201cthe lack of representation\u201d will be addressed through the microbusiness program.<\/p>\n She responded that the issue wasn\u2019t addressed in the\u00a0medical marijuana\u00a0program, \u201cso I don\u2019t see it being addressed here.\u00a0It\u2019s the same people who wrote it, so I don\u2019t see it being fixed at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Pruitt countered that the equity efforts weren\u2019t limited to the microbusiness piece.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about expungement,\u201d Pruitt told Kraske. \u201cIt\u2019s about leveling the playing field\u2026 I just don\u2019t want us to reduce Amendment 3 and the benefits of Amendment 3 to one particular section.\u201d<\/p>\n The discussion comes as the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services begins accepting\u00a0applications for the microbusiness program<\/a> on Thursday. The application period runs through August 10.<\/p>\n There are seven categories where people can qualify for a microbusiness license, ranging from a lower income level or living in an area considered impoverished to having past arrests or incarcerations related to marijuana offenses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe microlicensing program is as simple as this,\u201d Pruitt said during the KCUR discussion. \u201cIf you were impacted by the unjust laws as relates to the war against drugs, whether you were arrested [for a marijuana offense], whether your mother or father was arrested\u2026you\u2019re eligible.\u201d<\/p>\n He also noted people who live in Census tracts where 30 percent or more of the population is below poverty and where the unemployment rate is 50 percent higher than it is for the state level are also eligible to apply for a microbusiness license.<\/p>\n A person can also apply if they have a service-connected disability card from the\u00a0U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n \u2014 Bland Manlove said her biggest concern is the restrictions on microbusiness wholesale facilities. Under the constitution, they can only\u00a0cultivate up to 250 flowering marijuana plants.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you translate that into pounds and dollars, that\u2019s only clearing about $250,000 a year,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not enough for a business to run on.\u201d<\/p>\n She also said micro-dispensaries can only sell products from microbusiness growers.<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, they have to wait until the other micro [cultivators] grow up their plants and then they can put it into the dispensary,\u201d she told KCUR listeners.<\/p>\n Ownership is another point of concern, she said, because the only person who has to meet the eligibility requirements is the \u201cmajority owner,\u201d or the person who has more than 50 percent of the financial interests or voting interests.<\/p>\n \u201cThat leaves a lot of room for other people to come in on the backside,\u201d she said, \u201cpeople who are already in the industry, people who are not of color.\u201d<\/p>\n Another category she said leaves the door open for someone other than underrepresented individuals to benefit from the microbusiness licenses is the historic incarceration rate. People can apply if they live in a ZIP code that has an incarceration rate of marijuana offenses that\u2019s 50 percent higher than the rate for the entire state.<\/p>\n DHSS\u00a0listed these ZIP codes\u00a0in the new cannabis\u00a0regulations\u00a0that go into effect on July 30.<\/p>\n However, when DHSS tried to compile this list, they ran into trouble finding a state agency that tracked the ZIP codes of where people incarcerated actually lived, Abigail Vivas, who oversees the microbusiness program through DHSS, said at a\u00a0June outreach event.<\/p>\n The closest the state came, Vivas said, was identifying the ZIP codes for the courts where people\u2019s cases were handled.<\/p>\n In the St. Louis area, there were three geographic ZIP codes DHSS identified: downtown St. Louis, which is among the least residential areas in the city, and downtown Clayton, among the most affluent suburbs in the region where the average household income is $200,000. And the last one is for St. Charles, where the population is 90 percent Caucasian, according to the census.<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority Black populations in Missouri were missed on that map of qualifying places,\u201d Bland Manlove said, regarding this category.<\/p>\n Pruitt said he believes the map showing Census tracts with high poverty and unemployment should make up for the lack of available information for incarceration rates.<\/p>\n However, Pruitt previously told The Independent that if someone who lives in these ZIP codes applies solely on this eligibility requirement and wins a license, then the NAACP would legally challenge it because the addresses of courthouses don\u2019t reflect actual residence, which is required under the constitution.<\/p>\n In August, six license winners will be picked by the Missouri Lottery in every one of the state\u2019s eight Congressional districts in Missouri\u2014for a total of 48 licenses (16 for dispensaries and 32 for wholesale facilities.) DHSS will issue an additional 48 in 2024, and another 48 in 2025.<\/p>\n Vivas estimates there could be up to 5,000 applicants statewide this year. But she\u2019s heard other estimates that it could be 1,000 per congressional district.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just an abysmal number,\u201d said Bland Manlove, regarding the 48 licenses. \u201cIt should be a lot more than that. I\u2019m running in my head how many Black dispensaries we have now, and I can only think of one which is actually over on the St. Louis side.\u201d<\/p>\n According to DHSS, there are currently 59 cultivation facilities, 207 dispensaries and 75 manufacturing facilities that hold \u201ccomprehensive\u201d cannabis licenses. The state does not track demographic information of license holders, but Vivas said in June she would push for the department to conduct a\u00a0voluntary survey\u00a0for this information<\/a>.<\/p>\n By law, the state cannot issue any new comprehensive licenses until June 2024. Pruitt noted that if the state decides to allow for more regular licenses in the future, then 50 percent of them must go to microbusiness license holders.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we hope is going to happen is craft growers who want to come and get these licenses, they\u2019re going to brand their own product,\u201d Pruitt said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to do all sorts of special and unique things. And then they\u2019re going to\u2026 hopefully grow into a comprehensive license. That\u2019s what this is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Biden Justice Department Asks Federal Court To Dismiss Overdose Prevention Site Case, Rejecting Advocates\u2019 Arguments On Legal Exemptions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Missouri Lawmaker And NAACP Leader Spar Over Marijuana Industry Equity As Microbusiness Licenses Launch<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat leaves a lot of room for other people to come in on the backside, people who are already in the industry, people who are not of color.\u201d By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent When it comes to racial equity, state Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove of Kansas City and St. LouisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":67121,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67120"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67122,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67120\/revisions\/67122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Missouri Lawmaker And NAACP Leader Spar Over Marijuana Industry Equity As Microbusiness Licenses Launch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"