Members of the D.C. Council advanced legislation to give local minority-owned companies a preference when applying for licenses to operate medical marijuana businesses.
It’s the latest jurisdiction to join a growing nationwide effort to make sure minorities can profit from legal marijuana sales after decades of being disproportionately prosecuted for using and selling the drug.
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“We at the D.C. government have an obligation to make sure that minorities and local small businesses can get in on the ground floor and secure a piece of this foundation,” said Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large), who sponsored the legislation that passed Tuesday.
“We have locked up so many black people for marijuana, and I see it as incredibly hypocritical for those folks to return from prison on marijuana charges just to come back to a place that has now legalized and industrialized it, and they can’t play any role.”
