By Emily Wicks / For The Herald
For decades, the uneven enforcement of laws against cannabis destroyed lives, split families and marginalized swaths of our state; especially communities of color.
Part of this was by design. John Ehrlichman, domestic policy adviser to President Richard Nixon, admitted that Nixon started the war on drugs more than 50 years ago to target two groups: the antiwar left and Black people.
“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black,” Erlichlman said, “but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
Here in Washington state, cannabis is now legal. Yet we still need to take action to remedy the lasting harm done by the uneven enforcement of cannabis laws and the unequal way licenses were issued after legalization.
The numbers tell a story. The state Liquor and Cannabis Board monitors:
• 26,600 liquor licenses
• 5,900 tobacco and cigarette licenses,
• and more than 3,900 vapor product licenses.
Meanwhile, cannabis is an industry that historically criminalized people of color, with a product that research finds less harmful and even beneficial for medical patients in many cases.
And that new industry is restricted to 500 stores for all of Washington state.
When Initiative 502 was being implemented, the priority was simple: quickly process the applications for licenses. Naturally, it was easier for those with existing capital and resources — the wealthy few — to obtain those licenses.
Very few people of color could obtain a license and go into business, making up 1 percent of licensed producers and 18 percent of licensed retailers.
It’s time to make things fair and right.
There is plenty of room for Washington state to grow its legal market and limit illicit market activity.
Washington state has one of the lower per capita ratios of retailers at 6.2 licenses per 100,000 residents. Compare this with Oregon at 16.5, Oklahoma at 15.6, Montana at 15.6, Colorado at 14.1, and Alaska at 12.7.
If Washington state were to mirror Oregon’s ratio, Washington’s licenses would total 1,256.
A thoughtful increase in the number of retailers over several years would make Washington state more competitive, especially with imminent federal legalization. Doing this also begins to correct the current system, a system that has left those most victimized by the war on drugs out of the market.
That’s why I introduced House Bill 2022, which would:
Create 38 new social equity retail licenses and 25 new social equity producer/processor licenses each year until 2029 and establish a process for prioritizing social equity candidates;
Require social equity licenses and change the distance restrictions to ensure those who receive licenses can find a location where they can establish their business and be successful; and
Boost funding for social equity licenses grants, low-interest loans and technical assistance grants.
HB 2022 did not advance to a floor vote in the House, but I intend to reintroduce it next session.
Passing this reform upholds our common values of about fairness, opportunity and rectifying the mistakes of the past.
This legislation, combined with the community reinvestment program proposed in the governor’s supplementary budget and the efforts of Rep. Melanie Morgan, D-Parkland, and Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, would help bring equity to the industry. We need to forge new pathways for economic advancement for those left out of the legal opportunities within the cannabis space.
Yet this won’t be easy. The lucky few with licenses will resist this legislation and the free-market competition it will bring.
If you support this reform, please stand up and speak out by calling your lawmaker at 800-5620-6000.
State Rep. Emily Wicks, D-Everett, represents the 38th Legislative District and serves as vice chair of the House Commerce and Gaming Committee.
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