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New Illinois Report Shows Sharp Improvement In Marijuana Industry Diversity Amid Prioritization Of Social Equity

November 06, 2023

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The latest data on the legal cannabis industry in Illinois shows diversity numbers up significantly since adult-use sales began in January 2020, according to state’s Cannabis Regulation Oversight Officer (CROO). It’s a sign that efforts in recent years to prioritize social equity license applicants is making a measurable impact.

When recreational marijuana sales began in 2020, the “initial businesses were 100% majority White owned and only one majority woman-owned businesses,” says the office’s diversity survey report that was published last week. Since then, measures of diversity have improved markedly.

Among the key changes, Black-owned companies increased from 0 percent to 27 percent of the market during the period from 2020 to 2023, while Latino/a or Hispanic-owned companies climbed from 0 percent to 5 percent. Asian-owned companies, went from 0 percent to 3 percent. Women-owned businesses, meanwhile, now make up 16 percent of licensed cannabis companies.

The findings result from two surveys sent by CROO in May: a mandatory poll that was sent to all 227 licensed marijuana businesses in the state and a separate, voluntary survey for employees. A total of 132 companies responded, representing roughly 224 licensees. On the employee side, 2,307 people responded—roughly a quarter of the nearly 10,000 email addresses that CROO sent the survey to.

For companies that had several owners, ownership was categorized by the identities of those who held at least 51 percent equity.

Among individual cannabis owners, the proportion of Black marijuana business owners climbed to 26 percent, up from just 1 percent. Latino/a and Hispanic owners, meanwhile, now make up 7 percent of the market compared to 1 percent in 2020. Asian owners went from “an unknown number,” CROO’s report says, to 2 percent. Women owners grew from 18 percent of the market to 25 percent.

Companies’ responses, a summary of the report notes, “were not verified but accepted as accurate.” Further, CROO said it’s possible that because not all companies returned the poll or answered every question, “survey responses may not be representative of the total cannabis industry in Illinois.”

“However, the results are the most accurate information available,” the office said.

As for employees, about 10 percent said they worked in a company’s headquarters or corporate office, while 50 percent worked in dispensaries and 28 percent worked in cultivation centers. The remainder worked at infusion companies, testing labs or transporters—or left the question blank, CROO said. Almost all reported working within Illinois.

Of workers who returned the current survey, 11 percent are Latino/a or Hispanic, according to the CROO report—up from 5 percent in 2020. The share of Asian workers, meanwhile, increased from 1 percent to 2 percent. The proportion of workers who identified as Black, however, fell slightly, from 10 percent in 2020 to 9 percent in 2023. Sixty-five percent of those who returned the survey identified as “frontline employees” rather than supervisors or middle managers, senior managers or C-suite employees.

Black people were far better represented in higher levels of company leadership in 2023 than they were in 2020, however. The proportion of Black people in C-suite positions climbed from 1 percent to 19 percent, while the proportion of Black people sitting on cannabis boards of directors rose from 6 percent in 2020 to 20 percent this year, according to the report, which was previously covered by the Illinois News Joint, a local cannabis industry publication.

The latest survey is the third round of diversity polling conducted by CROO since the legal market opened. The first was conducted from November 2020 to April 2021, the second spanned December 2021 to August 2022 and the most recent survey went from December 2022 to this past August.

While the new report often compares 2020’s lack of diversity to this year’s better numbers, CROO’s report released in 2022 also found a severe lack of industry diversity, with white people disproportionately represented in every market category. Black and Latino/a people, meanwhile, accounted for less than 10 percent of most supervisory positions.

While marijuana sales and tax revenue have begun to plateau in Illinois is recent months, the industry is still expanding in terms of open businesses and number of products sold. An October report in from the state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) said the state industry experienced “unprecedented growth” in fiscal year 2023 and predicted future growth in the year ahead.

All told, the legal cannabis industry brought in about $451.9 million for the state in fiscal year 2023, which ran from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, according to separate numbers from the Department of Revenue. And as in past years, Illinois made significantly more revenue from cannabis than from alcohol, which brought in about $316.3 million.

Over the entire fiscal year, 200 conditional licenses were issued. In December 2022, the department also finalized rules for a new Social Equity Criteria Lottery, aimed at prioritizing people who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. More than 2,600 individuals applied for 55 new social equity dispensary licenses.

For fiscal year 2024, IDFPR said, it aims to issue 55 social equity licenses, hire and onboard eight new inspectors and processors “to decrease the time to license individuals and businesses” and increase public outreach. The agency also intends to implement a new seed-to-sale tracking program, the report says.

“IDFPR stands ready to continue issuing dispensary licenses and is committed to promoting social equity, safety, and growth into the regulated cannabis market,” the department said.

The current fiscal year got off to a busy start, according to recently released state sales data showing that retailers sold a record $140 million worth of adult-use cannabis products in August. In September, the state set a record for the number of individual products sold on the adult-use market, though total receipts were slightly lower, at $139.5 million.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) pointed to the industry growth and strong sales numbers in September downplaying the state’s comparatively steep retail prices. According an analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute, Illinois is the third-largest retail marijuana market after Michigan and California.

“We still have a growing industry, as you know, it is one that I initiated in 2019 that has brought in almost $450 million to state and local governments,” Pritzker said. “We want to encourage all industries to grow.”

Pritzker, who supported legalization in the state, also recently signed a bill allowing licensed marijuana businesses to claim state tax deductions as a partial fix to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax code 280E.

Ohio Voters Will Decide On A Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative On Tuesday As Polls Show Strong Support

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

The post New Illinois Report Shows Sharp Improvement In Marijuana Industry Diversity Amid Prioritization Of Social Equity appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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VAS 2.0: Prepare to be Blown Away!

November 06, 2023

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Watch Live: Minnesota’s New Psychedelics Task Force Holds Its First Meeting As Lawmakers Plan Reform Legislation

November 06, 2023

#KahliBuds #MMJ #CBD #THC

A Minnesota psychedelics task force charged with studying the medical benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and LSD and preparing the state for possible legalization is convening on Monday for its first meeting, at which members are expected to select a chairperson and lay out the trajectory of the coming months.

The group must return a final report to the state with findings and recommendations by January 1, 2025, and at least one key lawmaker says he plans to file a reform bill shortly thereafter.

The meeting is happening more than three months late, according to a state omnibus bill passed in March that created the Psychedelic Medicine Task Force. But state Rep. Andy Smith (D), who sponsored a standalone bill to create the psychedelics task force this past session and was appointed to serve on the body by the House speaker, recently told Marijuana Moment he’s confident the task force will hit the ground running.

“Our team at the Department of Health has done a lot of work to kind of prepare the field,” Smith said in a phone interview on Friday, noting that they’ve already held trainings for members on technology and presentation software that the group will be using. “So sort of the nuts and bolts hopefully will be in place, where we can actually get to the introductory getting to know each other and electing a chairman pretty quickly.”

Of 25 posted positions for the task force, 24 have been filled. They include lawmakers and agency representatives as well as a host of others appointed by Gov. Tim Walz (D) with experience in health policy, mental health, substance use disorders, veterans health and psychedelic medicine.

Watch the Psychedelic Medicine Task Force meeting live in the video below:

“What I’m hoping for from this first meeting is to have a more solid idea of where we want to go,” Smith said. The task force is focused on three main drugs: MDMA, psilocybin and LSD, he noted, “and I think one of the first things we’ll do is sort of decide how we want to address each of those different things.”

An agenda for the meeting includes a welcome, roll call and introductions, refinement of the group’s charter, a review of open meetings rules and other procedures, the selection of a chairperson and the discussion of the group’s plan and cadence going forward.

Asked whether he planned to introduce psychedelics reform legislation following the task force’s findings, the lawmaker, whose term ends next year, replied: “Yes, absolutely.”

“I am already planning on running again,” he continued, “and if—and hopefully when—I’m re-elected and this task force gives their final report..my hope is to bring that legislation in that session.”

As for whether he would follow the task force’s recommendations exactly, Smith left himself some wiggle room.

“First and foremost, I am a representative of my constituents here in Minnesota,” he said. “I have to stick to my conscience there. But the reason we went this route is because I want to be dedicated to listening to the experts on this particular issue and be as responsible as possible.”

Smith also emphasized that he wants to hear from any Minnesotans with ideas or feedback on the way forward. “If they think there’s an area that we’re not talking about—or they even [have] something simple as a great article or experience and they want to be part of the task force—email me, email other members of the task force,” he said.

While the final report isn’t due until the start of 2025, the body is required to file a preliminary report by February of next year.

Smith said he imagines the first report will be more about how the task force plans to approach the issues, with findings and recommendations reserved for its final report.

“This first report is going to be kind of like a syllabus—this is what we would like to do, this is how we’re going to go about this—rather than have any actionable steps in that first report,” he said.

Lawmakers who have also been appointed to the task force include Sens. Kelly Morrison (D) and Julia Coleman (R), who were appointed by bipartisan Senate leadership, as well as Rep. Nolan West (R), a member appointed by the House minority leader who also served on the bicameral conference committee that finalized Minnesota’s newly implemented marijuana legalization law.

As originally introduced as a standalone bill, Smith’s psychedelics legislation would have required the task force to look at mescaline, bufotenine, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, 2C-B, ibogaine, salvinorin A and ketamine. But it was amended in committee to focus only on psilocybin, MDMA and LSD.

In addition to creating the psychedelics task force, the omnibus bill that the governor signed to create the Psychedelic Medicine Task Force also included provisions to establish safe drug consumption sites.

At the local level, the mayor of Minneapolis issued an executive order in July making the criminalization of possession, use and cultivation of psychedelics the city’s lowest law enforcement priority and generally preventing local resources from being used to aid federal and state actions against the substances.

Meanwhile, it became legal for adults 21 and older in Minnesota to possess and cultivate marijuana on August 1.

As for legal cannabis sales, regulators are seeking public input as they begin the process of crafting rules for the state’s new industry. The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) late last month released a new online survey that includes questions on cannabis cultivation, processing and manufacturing. Regulators say they’re hoping to hear from “the widest possible range of community members, advocates, and partners who want to help shape how the rules are drafted.”

A separate Minnesota law also took effect in August that legalizes drug paraphernalia possession, syringe services, controlled substances residue and testing.