New Mexico has approved more than 1,000 licenses for businesses to manufacture, produce, test, and sell cannabis in the first year-plus of the new industry.
The vast majority of those who hold a controlling interest in those businesses — 70 percent — are men, and 67 percent report they are white, according to a presentation Tuesday before lawmakers on the Legislature’s interim Courts, Corrections, and Justice Committee.
Thirty-eight percent of those who identified as white also cited some Latino, Hispanic or Spanish origin, according to the report.
Andrew Vallejos, director of the Alcohol and Gaming Division of the state Regulation and Licensing Department, which houses the Cannabis Control Division, said the fact that more than 40 percent of cannabis licenses were issued to minorities “bodes well” for the state’s efforts to ensure equity in licensing cannabis businesses.
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