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Maryland Medical Cannabis Company Calls to Halt Progress on State Program

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Medical Cannabis CompanyA Maryland alternative medicine company is seeking to stop the licensing process after being rejected, raising concerns about the program’s minority inclusiveness.

Alternative Medicine Maryland is the third company to sue Maryland over the cannabis licensing’ lack of ethnic inclusiveness after its license was rejected. The company has asked Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams to issue a temporary injunction against the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission from issuing any final licenses to grow cannabis in the state.

Currently, there are 15 companies that passed the preliminary steps and are in the final steps of licensing, but none of them are owned by black people. Alternative Medicine Maryland is 80 percent owned by black people. Approximately 1/3 of Maryland’s population is black.

Though the legal processes for regulating cannabis is new, there is concern about the industry being dominated by non-minority groups. It has been estimated about one percent of the cannabis storefronts in the U.S. are owned by black Americans.

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland is sponsoring emergency legislations in both the House and the Senate to include African-American businesses in the current round of licensing, but the bills have yet to pass either side.

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission has previously noted that they want to bring minority participation into the medical cannabis industry in Maryland. However, the part of the law that required ethnic inclusiveness was struck down as being unconstitutional and was removed. Currently, there is no place on the licensing application for business owners to state their ethnicity.

According to The Baltimore Sun, Alternative Medicine Maryland’s lawyers argued in a letter written to Judge Williams, “It is undisputed that the commission made no attempt to . . . actively seek racial and ethnic diversity through the licensing process.” The lawyers also pointed out in a deposition last week, a lawyer for the state admitted regulators did not consider race when awarding preliminary licenses as required by law.

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission has posted current statistics on its website for those who have been preliminary approved include 15 growers, 15 processing companies, and 102 dispensaries. Out of 321 business owners, 135 are white males and 73 are white females. 33 owners are black males, and 22 are black females. 22 business owners are Asian males and 9 are Asian females, 12 are Hispanic males, and 4 are Hispanic females. There is one Native American owner and 8 that stated they are multi-racial.

In a statement released with the data, commission chairman Paul W. Davies wrote, “As we enter the operational phase of Maryland’s medical cannabis industry, I remain passionate about the quality of the program, and reject additional legislation that would disrupt the current progress that is being made in the final phase of this process.”

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