Arizona's social equity licenses for marijuana dispensaries have largely gone to corporate interests
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O’Shea Tometi/AZCIR
Denzel Mason was one of 26 recipients of a social equity license to open a recreational marijuana dispensary based on Arizona’s Proposition 207, which legalized adult-use cannabis in 2020.
When recreational marijuana was legalized in Arizona in 2020, part of the measure was aimed at helping people from communities that were disproportionately impacted by harsh marijuana laws, that is to say, often communities of color.
To do that, there are now 26 social equity licenses available in Arizona, licenses aimed at people from those communities, which are available by lottery here. But a new investigation from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting shows many of those licenses are now owned by corporate dispensaries instead.
Natasha Yee reported the story and The Show spoke with her more about it.
Faith Miller/Cronkite NewsOne of the marijuana strains available at a chain dispensary in west Phoenix
