in the united states the cannabis industry is moving full steam ahead while advocates of cannabis legalization at the federal level argue that taxes generated by the industry could be reinvested in communities criminalized for their relationship with the plant the reparation of the damages caused by years of racism and criminalization in these communities has a particular racial and economic framing within social equity programs social equity in the us seeks to repair the damage caused by years of racism that segregates people of color and widens the economic gap between the white population with higher average purchasing power and greater wealth accumulated over generations and the rest of the population in particular blacks and latinos with lower average purchasing power with less accumulated wealth and very high financial risk social equity programs could be read as a reform of the cannabis mode of production however social equity in the us does not pursue reforming the production system rather it uses the tools of the industry itself to reclaim competitive spaces for racial minorities among the organizations dedicated to this task is cannaclusive which from a pragmatic and progressive perspective understands that cannabis is a business and racial minorities are ready to get paid for it arlene pitterson is a marketer an adjunct marketing instructor at the fashion institute of technology in new york city and the organizations director of partnerships in this position arlene is dedicated to connecting cannabis brands with the goal of educating advocating and promoting the participation of people of color in the cannabis business arlene describes social equity as a practice that seeks to ensure more than equality under the rule of law to pursue the three principles of what america is supposed to be about life liberty and the pursuit of happiness more importantly social equity in cannabis in the us seeks to redress historical inequalities created by a history of discrimination against racial minorities see also what will be the cost of doing cannabis business in mexicoif the country finally legalizes it we were never equal women werent even considered minorities blacks werent even considered human thats how we came from independence a time when everyone was supposed to be equal explains arlene and offers an example using the case of two average college students one black and one white while both students may start out on an equal footing under the law meaning both can go to school in reality on average the white student starts out with an economic advantage over the rest better resources extracurricular assistance and social capital ie business contacts thus social equity seeks to right those wrongs so to speak for lack of a better term because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level technically you cant get a loan and start a cannabis business so many people turn to family wealth to start their own but thats not something you cant normally do within the black community where the net worth of black or hispanic families is on average ten times less than that of white families on average white families can draw on their close social network for a loan on average their mortgage burden is less and the ability to send their children to college where they acquire greater social capital all of these factors grant the white investor an advantage arlene refers to the fact that many of the people within the cannabis industry in the united states have been systematically criminalized while they were basically trying to circumvent the system in order to survive the activist refers to the process of cannabis criminalization that swept the us since the early 20th century to stigmatize marijuana and its users in particular to a racist propaganda campaign by the federal government against mexicans and blacks mostly day laborers and longshoremen who consumed a plant that whites were beginning to enjoy along with the devils music which was jazz however now they are accessing certain resources that the rest of society always had nobody is looking for handouts statistically the closer you are to being white the easier it is for you to access certain things were asking society to recognize that one part of itself has an advantage over the rest and to give others that opportunity to at least get a foot in the industry its literally a change in the american mindset arlene adds there are numerous initiatives for small businesses owned by racial minorities however you must qualify for the program and have a business plan see also more sustainability less carbon bmw commits to hemp and recycling and thats where cannaclusive comes in we understand that business opportunities present themselves through your social network but if youre not part of a certain group in society with resources you dont have that opportunity to be part of those kinds of conversations to join ventures you dont even have time for those conversations if you work and study or if you have a family to take care of so we try to level the playing field you can have the best product in the world but if you put your product in a plastic bag one of those sandwich bags and label it with a marker no one is going to look at it people dont care how good it is and that goes for any product its not just the cannabis inside the bag its the value proposition what matters arlene says cannaclusive seeks to educate people about the fact that cannabis is a business that is to say that to be in the industry it takes more than just willpower the organization advocates for training activists in legislation so that they can be part of the regulatory process through the legislators who have voted to bridge this gap cannaclusive educates advocates and promotes black and brown people to be in the cannabis industry to have more than just legal opportunities to have access to money to compete in the industry says arlene cannaclusive raises funds promotes access to credit for blackowned and womenowned small businesses and donates to organizations dedicated to formulating curricula in the cannabis business marketing and branding as well as training for the proper enforcement of legal and phytosanitary regulations for the production of cannabis and its derivatives one of the initiatives that cannaclusive supports is accelerators in conjunction with a number of cannabis companies multistate operators the organization raises funds to incubate projects based on funding targets which so far fluctuate between us 20000 and us 100000 and reach organizations such as supernova women which is organizing business training in detroit michigan meanwhile arlene emphasizes that there are a variety of entrepreneurial training sessions and governments are increasingly looking to create more equity programs because they are aware of this green fever and because they know about the contribution of cannabis workers to the economy however arlene notes that in order to have a mature industry regulators must get serious about the semantics of what they are regulating because the industry is advancing rapidly around the world they cant keep asking the family physician for advice on the emergence of a new transnational industry we have multiple scientific studies that can steer the debate in a progressive direction new york 420 legal adultuse cannabis in the big apple in the last 3 years the city saw the emergence of a plethora of cbd stores dispensaries where you can buy all kinds of hemp products and dried cannabis flowers with high cbd content and while cannabis can now be transported and consumed in the streets and parks of the city there are still no dispensaries open to the public that without a prescription dispense dried flowers or thc extracts that deliver psychoactive effects see also legal weed cannabis dispensaries marijuana stocks and how it all works arlene believes that until all the counties that make up the state adhere to the new legislation legalization will proceed piecemeal new york county manhattan kings county brooklyn bronx county the bronx and queens county queens will be the districts that are on the way to adhere to this historic reform that authorizes adult users to responsible and informed consumption of a wide range of cannabis products with thc with psychoactive potential that will be available in dispensaries and consumption bars in addition the activist believes that the legalization process in the state will proceed as counties see that their neighbors are collecting taxes crime is not increasing and patients have access to health care and she recalls that now marijuana is no longer a weed its cannabis its therapeutic and people are using it to deal with their stress according to arlene many of these cbd stores are basically there to hold a physical space in the real estate market until cannabis is approved at the county level before the end of the year heres one of the problems cannaclusive sees with the industrys outbreak in new york as the average business owner small business owner will never have the money to sit on a property for five years with new consumers entering the market and weed selling as a fad how do you think local businesses will compete just like with alcohol you have people who are going to buy a brand imported from europe no matter what and youre going to have people buying titos made in texas in that sense eventually the market can even out you can get liquor in a bodega or from a person behind bulletproof glass or you can go to the wine store in town to get your fancy bottle or the neighborhood store to get your boutique bottle its the same product what changes is the value do you think some of the most popular companies in the us will come to brooklyn yes i have no doubt and they are all competing for space in the borough every one of them wants to be in new york and new york is the biggest market there will be when do you think the big brands will land in the city when new yorks laws are passed 100 percent next year youre going to see an avalanche its just going to happen its going to be inevitable were the next green frontier everybody went west for gold now everybodys coming east for green everybodys talking about colorado right like you have to go to colorado and go there to get the potent stuff but theyre still fighting for social equity new york has learned from other places and our black and brown legislators have understood that the same thing cant happen the money from taxes and from sales has to go back to the bedstuy to flatbush to east new york and the communities that have been systematically disenfranchised