Black Maryland state lawmakers are planning to propose emergency legislation to address the dearth of minority-owned businesses approved to grow medical marijuana in the state and may demand scrapping the results of a nine-month application process and starting over.
Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore) announced the plans at a Friday meeting of the Legislative Black Caucus aimed at addressing diversity in the burgeoning and potentially lucrative medical cannabis industry. The meeting was packed with about 100 people involved in prospective marijuana businesses who were divided on how to address the issue.
Black lawmakers had pushed for language in the 2014 medical marijuana legalization law requiring regulators to “actively seek to achieve” racial and ethnic diversity in the growing industry.
But in a state that is nearly a third black, none of the 15 companies granted preliminary cultivation licenses in August is led by an African American.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Fenit Nirappil over at Washington Post