Life Changers 11:11

Do you care about social equity in cannabis? Are you disappointed that our industry has been taken over by large, out-of-state corporations? Do you think young people of color should have role models in our industry? If you do, I am respectfully asking you to support my cause. To my knowledge, I am the only African American woman who owns a dispensary license in Arizona, and I am the only qualified social equity applicant in Arizona who has full control of their license.

 

While exciting, this opportunity was born out of unfortunate circumstances. My father is currently in the 11th year of a prison sentence for marijuana that did not belong to him. Since his incarceration, my family has scraped by running a small power-washing business. Because of my limited income and my residency in South Phoenix—the only place people of color could own property until the 1970s—I qualified for a social equity license. My entity was formed on 11/11, and I was the 11th name drawn in the lottery.

 

Immediately after I won my license, MSOs and wealthy investors besieged me, offering me millions of dollars for my license. While I could have used the money, I turned down all of their offers because I want to make sure this program really lives up to its spirit of community reinvestment. We plan to provide stable, fair-paying jobs to people from hard-hit communities and to fund numerous community outreach programs for youth education, feeding unsheltered individuals, and bridge programs that help incarcerated people reintegrate into society.

 

I do not want to sell my license because I know an MSO will only do the bare minimum, instead of going above and beyond to truly revitalize communities in need.

 

However, the clock is ticking. If I do not secure real estate with appropriate zoning and apply for approval to operate my retail site by October 2023, the Arizona Department of Health Services will be forced to revoke my license. This process will take a lot of money, and unfortunately, it seems that everyone who has it wants to take advantage of me.

 

Please join me in this Journey to Change. Help me hold onto my license and chip in whatever you can to make sure that Arizona’s social equity program lives up to its spirit. THANK YOU!!