Black entrepreneurs in Missouri are shut out of the medical marijuana business

Black entrepreneurs are being left out of the booming medical marijuana business in Missouri. And the state is losing some of its brightest entrepreneurial minds as a result. But an initiative to place recreational pot on the ballot in November could potentially level the playing field.

Obtaining a license to cultivate and sell medical marijuana in Missouri is a lengthy and expensive process that includes no guarantees and no refunds as Marne Madison, the former president of the Minorities For Medical Marijuana group in Missouri, can attest. Applicants must fork over tens of thousands of dollars just to apply. The cost to open a dispensary in Missouri is steep — between $85,000 and $150,000.

The price tag creates a barrier Madison knows all too well. She invested about $80,000 trying to secure a dispensary license. But like other applicants denied a chance to take part in the state’s medical marijuana program, Madison still doesn’t know why her application was rejected.

Madison, a 30-year-old Black woman and business owner, plans to open in April — the weekend before 4/20, no less — a marijuana growing and dispensary business in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma currently has no limit on the number of licenses the state can issue to medical marijuana businesses, while Missouri capped dispensary licenses at 192. That equates to 24 for every congressional district in the state. [Read more at The Kansas City Star]