Nearly two years after a law was passed creating Colorado's social equity program for marijuana business owners, one of the program's original proponents says it has proven to be ineffective.Should social equity policy be used by already existing millionaires in the cannabis industry?
Many existing retailers are using the arrest criteria as a basis for social equity licenses, and are being issued cannabis retail licenses en masse. For potential minority-owned businesses in the cannabis space, this creates an additional barrier to entry, not including other obstacles like funding, access and legal support. But for existing operators connected to hugely funded conglomerates, it gives them an additional advantage.
Everyone knows the license process is long and arduous, even for experts in the space. To make matters more complicated, the social equity retail store licenses in Denver that have been issued or are in the process of issuance are being marked for existing industry retailers. Yes, you read that right, of the licenses set for issuance, 66 percent are being issued to already existing operators.*
This means exactly what you think it means: Big operators are taking advantage of the social equity criteria loophole — being issued licenses and not utilizing social equity businesses in their operational day-to-day.
The Denver rules have kept SE applicants at a minimum while allowing the larger stores to gobble up licenses for sale. Zoning is the worst culprit & Denver Zoning +Denver EXL refuse to work together to allow more SE applicants to obtain retail locations (the hardest obstacle)
Kind Love getting any kind credit is a joke. They have great product, but are they not consistently one of the most expensive shops in town?