A Look at Hurdles to Social Equity & Sustainability in the Cannabis Space
Dope Dispatch #2
Earlier this year, I joined Vee Castillo’s Dope Team and made big plans to highlight our collective achievements within Canna Poet Mom monthly. Then, life happened. Getting hit by a car really pushed me right over the edge of burnout, and I cut my ties to many treasured ventures — including the one I shared with Vee.
Today, weekly installments of the Dope Dispatch are making a comeback. However, rather than looking exclusively at the work of Vee’s team, it will now address some of the top stories in cannabis from across the globe.
Here’s what I discovered this week:
First, Illinois recently made headlines with its social equity program for licensing cannabis businesses. Essentially, applicants from historically marginalized populations targeted by the war on drugs could receive a 200 point bonus on the 1,000 point applicant scoring system.
However, the applications themselves included multiple provisions that made it next to impossible for social equity applicants to have a fighting chance. To learn more about the issue, plus potential solutions, check out:
Next, signs of climate catastrophe are increasing, and cannabis cultivation is part of the problem. According to the cannabis insider newsletter Four PM, this is due to largely to the fact that most legal cannabis cultivation is forced to happen indoors — even though outdoor cultivation has a significantly smaller carbon footprint.
While cannabis industry experts are working to make indoor grows more sustainable, the most effective step is federal legalization. This would allow multiple states to legally receive cannabis cultivated regionally from ecologically-sound outdoor grow operations. Read more:
Can We Reduce The Environmental Impact Of Cultivating Cannabis? — by Matthew O’Brien — Four PM.
Finally, at the federal level, the House of Representatives went on recess prior to confirming that no funds will be used to advance cannabis prohibition in states where medical marijuana is legal. While the delay in voting is a bit alarming, the outcome may actually be a sign of slow-moving progress.
This is due to the implementation of new language, which includes legal adult use alongside medical use. Likewise, federal lawmakers are considering new provisions that protect Veterans Association doctors who prescribe cannabis as a treatment within legal states. Take a look:
House Marijuana Vote Delayed As The Senate Advances Veterans Access Amendment — NORML.
As always, NORML provides an excellent collection of ways for you to combat cannabis prohibition at the state and federal level: Take Action — NORML!
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Want to help support my independent writing as I combat cancer and recover from a serious injury? There’s a link for that: Kelli Lynn Grey’s Flowpage (flowcode.com).
