To Kansas City businessman Dre Taylor, the case is clear for some form of affirmative action in Missouri’s new medical marijuana industry.
Marijuana-related arrests fell disproportionately on black and Latino users for decades, even though studies show white people use marijuana at about the same rate. Taylor said he’s seen firsthand the devastating effects of those marijuana arrests on black families and communities. Now that medical marijuana is going to be legal to use and sell, he figures the government should help ensure those same families and communities aren’t shut out of the economic windfall.
“I’m not asking to rewrite the wrongs,” Taylor said. “I’m just asking what can we do to promote equity in this industry that’s going to produce millions of dollars?”
Two Kansas City legislators have introduced bills that would give minority- and women-owned businesses a slight edge when applying for licenses to grow, manufacture and sell medical marijuana products.
But their proposals face an uphill climb, both politically and legally.
The constitutional amendment voters approved in November requires Missouri to issue at least 24 licenses to sell medical marijuana in each of the state’s eight congressional districts, for a total of 192.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is still writing regulations and probably won’t decide who gets licenses until the end of 2019. But the department has already accepted more than $2 million in application fees from more than 250 people hoping to start medical marijuana businesses, which suggests the competition will be stiff.
As Taylor said, there’s about to be a lot of money at stake. New Frontier Data, an independent analytics firm that specializes in the cannabis industry, estimated that Missouri will be doing $111 million in medical marijuana sales annually by 2025.
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