State Initiatives to Promote Cannabis Industry Entrepreneurship Among Disproportionately Impacted Communities: A...

Area of Science:

• Social Science
• Public Policy
• Cannabis Legalization

Background:

• Historic cannabis criminalization disproportionately affected marginalized communities in the US.
• Legalization of nonmedical cannabis has prompted states to implement social equity (SE) initiatives.
• These initiatives aim to promote industry participation among disproportionately impacted communities and areas (DICAs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess state-level social equity entrepreneurship initiatives in the nonmedical cannabis sector.
• To evaluate the characteristics of these initiatives and their associated outcomes.
• To identify potential associations between initiative design and participation/licensing rates for SE entrepreneurs.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study utilizing publicly available data from 17 states with nonmedical cannabis retail and SE initiatives.
• Data collection focused on initiative characteristics (licenses, selection, eligibility, support) and outcomes (application/license numbers, demographic representation).
• Analysis included quantitative assessment of SE application success rates and license distribution by sex, race, and ethnicity.

Main Results:

• Eleven states reserved licenses for SE entrepreneurs, with varying criteria for ownership, DICA status, residency, and conviction history.
• Most states provided support services, including training, financial aid, and reduced fees.
• Significant variation was observed in SE application licensing rates (2.0%–100%) and overall license distribution among SE entrepreneurs (2.4%–100%), with notable differences in female- and minority-held licenses.

Conclusions:

• This multistate assessment provides a foundational evaluation of social equity entrepreneurship initiatives in the cannabis industry.
• Current outcomes do not show a clear association with the characteristics of implemented SE initiatives.
• Further research is needed to explore alternative outcome measures or allow more time for SE initiatives to demonstrate their impact on DICA participation.