Washington will soon issue more than 40 cannabis retail licenses to social equity applicants this month. However, the deadline is rapidly approaching.
The application period will open on March 1 and end March 30, so qualified license applicants have until March 30 for their applications.
Social equity applications are handled by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. This is a state-run regulatory agency that oversees the cannabis and liquor industries.
The agency stated that more than 40 licenses “were cancelled, forfeited, revoked, or never issued” under the program.
According to the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board applicants need to meet these criteria in order be eligible for the program.
“A minimum 51 percent of applicant’s interest or majority must reside in Washington for at least six months before the date of application. The applicant and a relative must have lived in Washington for at least five years, between 1980 and 2010, and either been arrested for or convicted for cannabis crimes. OR the household income of applicant was lower than Washington’s median income ($82,400).
Axios states that applicants will be given priority if they are applying for social equity licenses. This includes applicants who were sentenced to time in jail for cannabis offenses.
As advocates stress the need to remedy the harms caused by prohibition, social equity provisions are now the standard in legalizing recreational cannabis for adults in all 50 states.
These social equity provisions were not made in Washington until much later, when it became one of two states that legalized recreational marijuana.
Initiative 502, a ballot measure that was approved more than 10 years ago by the voters in Washington, “didn’t include provisions or create programmes to acknowledge thedisproportionate harms enforcement of cannabis laws had upon certain populations and communities.” The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board stated earlier this year , when it revealed the availability of more than 40 social-equity applications.
Jay Inslee (Democratic governor of the state) signed into law a bill that allowed “the possibility to offer a limited number cannabis retail licences to individuals who are disproportionately affected by the enforcement cannabis prohibition laws.”
The agency explains that it recognizes the fact that prohibition laws on cannabis were disproportionately applied for many decades, and the cumulative effects of this enforcement still exist today. In 2020, in response a priority policy identified by the Board the LCB created agency-request legislation. It established the state Social Equity program and Task Force. The Task Force also has the possibility to offer a small number of cannabis retail licences to those who are disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition laws.
However, the state still needs to work hard. As Axios pointed, Washington’s marijuana industry is “remains dominated” by white entrepreneurs more than ten years after its voters made history.
In January 2020, the State Liquor and Cannabis Board statedthat 82% of Washington’s cannabis retail outlets were owned by white people. Black residents owned only 3%, while Hispanics held 2%.
The post Washington Social Equity Application Closes Deadline originally appeared on High Times.
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