Special to the Arizona Informant
Phoenix-When voters passed Proposition 203 to begin the legalization of marijuana in Arizona, few would have been able to predict the path of the industry to where it stands now,15 years later. Close to 500,000 people have obtained the medical marijuana card, but since then , Proposition 207 was voted in, thus allowing for recreational use of the pungent buds by anyone 21 and older.
With the passage of Proposition 207, the state created a Social Equity Ownership Program (SEOP). This program was created to correct the historical harm caused by past marijuana laws, which in fact, disproportionately affected Blacks and other minorities , low income populations and other marginalized groups. The objective of the program was to offer licenses to social equity applicants with the goal of creating jobs, promote diversity and carve a slice of the lucrative industry to the tune of an estimated $200 million dollars initially.
The broken promise reads like an episode of the old television sitcom “Good Times”. In 2022, there were to be 26 social equity licenses distributed via a lottery system to those individuals that met the eligibility criteria of the program. Unfortunately, as of today , 25 out of the 26 licenses are controlled by wealthy investors , non-minority corporations , and LLC’s. several of the applicants were forced or coerced into signing unethical and in most cases illegal agreements, according to the rules of the SEOP initiative.
Several applicants have stepped up to complain about the predatory practices of these organizations and are ready to speak up about their experiences and reach out to the Attorney General of Arizona to investigate their complaints. The community needs to be made aware of a program that has been viciously exploited by many of the companies that already own a majority of the licenses.
In the next installment of this series ,we will hear from some of the individuals that have been affected by some of the predatory groups and we will describe some of the tactics used by them to acquire the SEOP licenses
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