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Cannabis social equity initiatives among US states with legal non-medical cannabis retail: A review and recommendations
Abstract
Introduction
With expanding cannabis legalization, sometimes motivated by an interest in improving social justice, some states have enacted different initiatives to support social equity (SE) goals. This study described state SE initiatives related to equitable industry entrepreneurship opportunities among disproportionately-impacted communities and areas (DICAs), community reinvestment, and criminal justice reform.
Methods
Two coders independently identified these 3 state-level cannabis-related initiatives among the 22 states with legal and active non-medical (‘recreational’) cannabis retail as of December 2024 using NexisUni and state-specific legislative websites. Themes were synthesized using iterative content and thematic analysis.
Results
SE initiatives related to cannabis licensure were present in 17/22 states; of these, 13 reserved a number/percent of licenses for SE entrepreneurs. Regarding SE licensure eligibility, all states required majority business ownership and had criteria considering: cannabis-related arrests/convictions of applicants and/or family members (n=14/17), residence in DICA residence (n=15/17), and/or applicants’ income/wealth (n=9/17). Most states with SE entrepreneurship initiatives provided SE entrepreneurs with technical assistance/training (n=14/17) and opportunities for reduced application/licensing fees (n=10/17). Most states imposed cannabis sales taxes (n=15/22) and/or excise taxes (n=20/22). Ten states (n=10/22) distributed cannabis program revenues to substance use education/prevention/treatment; approximately one-fifth (n=4/22) distributed funds to SE entrepreneurship initiatives. Over two-thirds of states (n=15/22) had cannabis-related expungements.
Conclusions
Most states had cannabis-related SE initiatives (e.g., equitable entrepreneurship support, allocation of tax revenue, expungements), which varied in terms of their licensure, resources, and participation. Future research is needed to monitor and evaluate these SE initiatives.
Introduction
In the US, cannabis legalization continues to expand; as of December 2024, 24 states have legal non-medical (i.e., ‘recreational’) cannabis retail, 22 of which have active retail markets.1 One of the initial drivers of legalization was the historic disproportionate impact of cannabis criminalization on non-White and lower-income populations.2-6 These populations faced disproportionately harsh law enforcement for cannabis-related offenses, despite having similar usage rates to other demographic groups.2-6
With the expansion of legal cannabis, there has been rapid growth in the cannabis market, resulting in billions of dollars of revenue (>$30 billion 2024).7 However, market benefits remain inequitably distributed, with over 80% of cannabis business owners being White.8,9
To respond to such inequities, some states with non-medical cannabis retail have enacted initiatives to advance social equity (SE) and social justice. SE-related initiatives intend to empower those from disproportionately-impacted communities and areas (DICAs) through criminal justice reform, addressing past convictions (via pardons or expungement), reinvesting cannabis tax revenue in community restoration or enhancements, and promoting equitable cannabis industry entrepreneurship opportunities by providing licensure pathways and related resources.10,11
The literature has just begun to conceptualize and evaluate the impacts of these SE initiatives.10,12-17 However, research in this area is limited by a lack of up-to-date, accessible data regarding the nature of SE initiatives across states. Moreover, many states seemingly lack concerted efforts to collect data to evaluate these initiatives, and states are largely in the beginning phases of implementing SE-focused work, further hindering research.
To help advance this area of research, this study describes the development of a database of cannabis-related SE initiatives and related legislation in states with active legal non-medical cannabis retail (as of December 2024). This database is intended to provide researchers with operationalized variables to facilitate SE initiative evaluation and will be updated (annually-released data sets by year) to include more states and jurisdictions (e.g., US territories) as they establish legal non-medical cannabis retail and more variables (e.g., including relevant medical SE initiatives, implementation factors) over time. Ultimately, this database is intended to facilitate the development of an evidence base for these policies and initiatives to inform more inclusive and effective initiatives in the future – both for states currently implementing these initiatives and states that have yet to enter the non-medical cannabis market. These data help address recommendations made by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine related to cannabis policy and health equity (i.e., recommendation 4-1 [create an adaptable public health surveillance system for cannabis] and recommendation 5-2 [systematically evaluate cannabis social equity policies]).18
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