How Can Massachusetts Achieve Pot Shop Equity?

  • November 25, 2020
  • 5:58 PM

The Cannabis Control Commission just recently granted its first license to a member of its Economic Empowerment Program, which gives priority application status to businesses in communities of color that were disproportionately targeted by the War on Drugs. The Dorchester shop that gained this approval is just one of 114 approved pot shops statewide, 37 of which are already up and running. So what has stood in the way of greater racial equity in Massachusetts’ new marijuana industry, and what improvements need to be made? Jim Braude was joined by Shaleen Title, a member of the commission who co-authored the ballot question that brought legalized marijuana — and the promise of social equity in the new market — to Massachusetts.