Black Caucus Requests Special Session to Address Diversity in Cannabis

Legislative Black Caucus Gala. by jay Baker at Annapolis, MD.

The leaders of the Legislative Black Caucus are requesting that Maryland Governor Larry Hogan require the state’s General Assembly to return to the capitol in order to pass legislation expanding the cannabis industry in Maryland.

Monday marked the end of the most recent session of Maryland’s General Assembly, and they were unable to decide on important cannabis legislation that would award cannabis cultivation licenses to companies owned by minorities. None of the 15 institutions granted preliminary licenses last year were run by African-Americans, despite a state law requiring cultural diversity.

Cheryl Glenn, leader of the 51-person caucus, said her members are “feeling rejected, dejected and taken for granted” by members of the General Assembly. The caucus was hoping the assembly could award additional licenses to five businesses run by minorities.

“Nothing changes, and most importantly, that means African-Americans are left out of this billion-dollar industry in Maryland, and that is not acceptable,” Glenn said Tuesday.

GTI Maryland is currently suing the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission (MMCC) over their selection process for licenses.  GTI was eliminated from license consideration because the commission was seeking geographic diversity in its cultivators.

The chairman of the MMCC, Paul Davies, was “very relieved” that the commission would not be expanded at this point as it would have delayed the process of getting medicine into the hands of the patients who need it. The cannabis commission did hire a diversity consultant and will look into adding new growers in 2018 if the market and demand require it.

“The commission gets the message that racial and ethnic diversity is important,” Davies said. “We plan to aggressively pursue a policy of diversity.”

The state of Maryland began issuing medical cannabis licenses to patients on Monday for individuals whose last names start with letters A through L and will continue next Monday with patients  whose last names start with M through Z.