“I think for the first time in a long time folks actually have hope in the process. It’s been a long time coming,” said Kareem Kenyatta, who helped 38 individuals submit applications to the state through the Majority Minority Group, which he co-founded. One of those groups was awarded a license.
Illinois lawmakers
changed the cannabis dispensary licensing process, establishing a lower threshold for applicants to be considered and a specific date only for “social equity” applicants. The rule changes meant Illinois also included candidates who achieved 85% of the points in the lotteries instead of only considering the top-scoring applicants, Kenyatta said.
Ensuring access to (1) non-predatory capital, (2) education, and (3) business services are the most needed and effective measures to support the participation of equity applicants in the regulated cannabis industry, according to the “Social Equity Legislation in Cannabis: A National Study of State and Local Approaches” report, published by
The Initiative.
The study is accompanied by a database of existing and proposed social equity programs. It offers the first cataloging of equity programs at the state and local levels, the first step in the process of understanding what models have come closest to achieving the goal of opening up businesses owned by individuals adversely affected by the War on Drugs.
Cannabis flower grows at a recreational grow facility in Illinois. The state s dispensaries sold some $700 million of recreational marijuana products in 2020.
The line outside the Metro East’s first recreational marijuana dispensary was already long hours before it opened for the first time in January, 2020.
Hundreds of people packed themselves into a tight metal maze that could barely contain the growing crowd at Ascend in Collinsville. The line continued away from the building, snaking along a nearby sidewalk, its tail winding out of sight.
This scene outside the dispensary foreshadowed some of the key issues Illinois’ fledgling recreational marijuana industry would need to overcome.