Massachusetts State House.
HYANNIS – As Massachusetts’ cannabis industry continues to grow, the state senate has taken up a bill to expand local licensing processes and improve equity in the industry.
The legislation aims to specifically help members of communities who have been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement as the market expands.
The bill would create a social equity fund to help finance entrepreneurs looking to get into the market, as federal cannabis laws prevent businesses from using traditional bank loans.
“When we passed recreational cannabis legislation five years ago, we sough tto ensure the Commonwealth’s budding cannabis industry would be equitable, diverse, and have ample avenues of entry for small-scale and Black and Brown-led entrepreneurship,” said Assistant Majority Whip Julian Cyr (D-Truro) in a statement.
“Regrettably, the Legislature’s intention to build an industry rooted in social justice has not yet been fully realized. Today we are living up to that promise by establishing guardrails on host-community agreements, allowing communities interested in pursuing social consumption sites to do so, and empowering a strong, vibrant, local cannabis industry with a robust cannabis equity fund.”
State lawmakers said that high entry costs and lack of access to capital have kept many entrepreneurs out of the industry, resulting in fewer than seven percent of all cannabis licenses in the state going to social equity businesses.
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