Gov. Jared Polis signed a landmark bill affecting the cannabis industry on June 29 in front of Simply Pure in Denver. The dispensary was the first in the nation owned by a Black couple.
HB20-1424 creates a new social equity license that is intended to boost minority participation in the cannabis industry. The program goes into effect Jan. 1.
The bill also authorizes the governor to pardon individuals for possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana — the current legal limit for medical patients — removing a barrier to ownership of marijuana businesses.
“This month, across our whole state and our whole society, we’ve had a long overdue and renewed conversation about race, about racial inequalities … and cannabis is no different than anything else,” Polis said at the bill signing. “The majority of those in prison for cannabis-related crimes are people of color, while the majority of people that are making money legally on cannabis are white.”
People with prior convictions have been prevented from raising capital and getting loans, leases, jobs, licenses and mortgages, Polis said.
“We hope this measure will be a first step toward new opportunities for thousands of Coloradans who should not be living with a cloud over their heads simply because they were a little bit ahead of their time,” he said.
On Oct. 1, Polis signed an executive order that granted pardons to 2,732 people convicted for possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana — a first step in implementing the pardons program.
ACCELERATOR PROGRAM
The concept of social equity was established in SB19-224, the 2019 legislation that continued and updated marijuana regulations upon the sunset of the original law. That bill introduced what was called the accelerator program and a social equity license.
“That is what created that initial pathway for us to identify existing marijuana businesses, accelerator manufacturers or accelerator cultivators, who are interested in hosting a new license type that was created,” said Dominique Mendiola, deputy director of the Marijuana Enforcement Division of the state Department of Revenue. These host businesses are issued an accelerator license.
The social equity licensee “would be somebody who’s never been in the industry before who has faced barriers to entry, and now could have a pathway to get technical support and capital support from an existing business,” Mendiola said.
That licensee would be housed within the host facility and receive mentoring similar to an incubator program.
“We had a number of stakeholder meetings throughout 2019,” she said, and criteria and definitions around the legislation were further developed this year.
HB20-1424 expanded the accelerator program and created two pathways for social equity licensees.
“It’s no longer just limited to cultivation and manufacturing facilities, but also [includes] stores,” Mendiola said. “It also allows somebody to say, ‘I’d like to apply to independently operate my own business.”
Participation in the accelerator program is limited to recreational marijuana businesses, but social equity applicants who want to operate their own businesses may apply for medical or retail licenses.
An individual can apply for a social equity license if he or she is a Colorado resident and has not owned a revoked cannabis license, and can…
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