Hope Wiseman is exactly whom Maryland leaders envisioned supporting when cannabis equity became a state initiative. In Prince George’s County, more dispensaries make some residents and lawmakers shudder.
County lawmakers here have for months clashed over whether new dispensaries should be able to set up shop in highly visible retail locations or be relegated to industrial zones, revealing a broader disagreement here over whether entrepreneurs like Wiseman represent the potential for cannabis legalization to empower communities or to damage them.
Cannabis wasn’t always in the plan for Wiseman, who in so many ways embodies Prince George’s storied, Black upper middle-class dreams. Wiseman is grateful she could lean on her mother and co-founder, Octavia S. Wiseman, and Larry Bryant, a longtime family friend and co-founder of Mary & Main, for financial support.
“Why are we encouraging anybody to use drugs to begin with? In my opinion, it’s the gateway to use other harder drugs,” Jackson said. “For me, there is no place where should be put.”Blegay, the council member who represents the area where Mary & Main is located, said she supports limiting dispensaries to industrial zones because there are no guarantees about the quality of store each community would receive, especially if it’s near homes.
“When I see a young Black woman creating Black wealth and creating jobs and creating a business, that is why I actually woke up,” Fisher said. “I ran for office to help women and to help my community at large, and Hope is an example of that.”the third highest in the state after Montgomery County and Baltimore, which have 18 and 17 dispensaries, respectively.