Washington cannabis bill seeks to make industry more diverse, equitable

Jim Buchanan is more than ready for change.

A second-generation Seattleite, cannabis retailer and entrepreneur, he is also president of the Washington State African American Cannabis Association and has spent months fighting for House Bill 2022, a bill that would make sweeping changes to Washington state’s cannabis industry.

The bill is the latest in a series of legislation intended to increase social equity and racial diversity in the cannabis trade.

In 2020, House Bill 2870 established the Marijuana Social Equity Program, an application-based process intended to provide people of color, harmed by the war on drugs, opportunities to become more involved in the burgeoning marijuana economy. The 2020 measure also created the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force, comprising lawmakers, government representatives and industry experts charged with making recommendations about the issuance and reissuance of retail cannabis licenses in ways that would promote business ownership among people of color.

The bill currently before the Legislature incorporates many of the policies recommended by the task force, and would create 38 new retail and 25 new producer and processor licenses each year through 2029. The bill also stipulates that these and any other new cannabis licenses may only be awarded to so-called social equity applicants until 2030, after which 50% of licenses must be awarded to such applicants. [Read More @ The Seattle Times]