The city of Oakland in California just passed a groundbreaking new program which will allow those who were jailed for cannabis in the past to receive legal cannabis licenses.
This is the first program of its kind in the country, and represents a new step towards a post-drug war America. This new system is being called the Equity Permit Program, and according to High Times, was created by Desley Brooks, who serves on city council. She feels that the war on drugs hurt people and communities that are impoverished and underserved, and wants this new program to help right that wrong.
“When we look at the eight dispensaries, we have one that is owned by an African-American,” she told Mercury News. “One out of eight… everybody ought to have an opportunity to compete.”
In most legal states, those who have had felonies of any kind are barred from joining in with the industry at all, so this is a revolutionary move. Many activists have been speaking out lately about the fact that drug crimes are often prioritized over crimes like homicide and gang violence, and the fact that most of the leaders in the cannabis industry are privileged and white. This new ruling will help even the playing field a bit and give a second chance to those who have been arrested for cannabis crimes. It will also allow them to work with a plant that may well be their passion.
“We are the last ones to get access (to permits),” Oakland resident Tom Coleman, who is working with the program, told High Times. “We can be the help or the consumers but we never had the access. It gives us a fair shot.”
Thanks to this revolutionary trial run in Oakland, cannabis industries everywhere may become more fairly represented by minorities and the underprivileged.
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