More than a year into the legal recreational cannabis industry in Illinois, a glaring omission remains among minority-owned businesses.
When Governor Pritzker and Springfield legislators pushed for recreational use of cannabis, they said they were doing so with an eye towards equity. Dispensaries opened statewide on Jan. 1, 2020. Yet, 15 months later, no minority-owned cannabis businesses operate in the state.
Illinois’ cannabis business accounted for $1 billion in sales in its first year of legality. However, social equity remains a work in progress.
“You can’t say you’re about equity and leaving those women and men out in these communities outside looking in,” Tyrone Muhammad said at a press conference Tuesday committed to increasing and expanding Black and Brown ownership in the cannabis space.
With the state running almost a year behind issuing new licenses, minority investors and activists have turned up the heat on the Pritzker administration.
Read more at wgntv.com