The Maryland Cannabis Administration has created a tool designed to keep local and minority applicants from being shut out of the licensing process in the marijuana marketplace.
The administration has announced its “social equity verification portal” that will open on Friday, Sept. 8.
The first round of licensing for standard and micro cannabis growers, processors and dispensaries will be limited to applicants who fit a “social equity” profile, a news release stated.
Applicants who attended a four-year institution of higher education where at least 40% of students enrolled were eligible for Pell Grants, and people who have lived in communities that were “disproportionately impacted” by previous drug policies are among the considered.
Maryland State Del. C.T. Wilson, leader of the House panel on economic matters who worked on crafting the state law legalizing recreational marijuana, told WTOP, “I wasn’t a big fan of legalizing marijuana to get Marylanders high, I just wanted individuals — especially in the African American community — to stop being arrested and being murdered because of cannabis.”
Wilson said the push to ensure equity in the licensing process is part of the “equity solution” to marijuana sales moving forward. The intent, he said, is “that individual communities that have been suffering the most from the war on drugs and the drug sales, can be the ones that benefit” from the new business generated under legalization.
But Wilson has concerns about the fiscal impact of marijuana legalization.
“I did not want this to be the golden goose for Maryland,” he said. “I’ve seen other states balance their budget on cannabis,” only to take a hit when the prices fluctuate. Those ups and downs, he said, can be “dramatic.”
Wilson also said there has to be a balance between the profits that can be made from marijuana sales and the prices that people are willing to pay in the legalized marketplace.
“If we’re trying to eradicate the illegal drug market, we can’t do that if our cannabis is more expensive” than what people can buy off the street,” he said. When it comes to taxation, Wilson said, “we only charge 9%, the same as we do for liquor.”
“My goal is not to get Marylanders high. It is to make sure it is a safe, accessible market for everyone; the consumer as well as those who want to get involved in the process,” he said.
