After Cookies opened last June, owner Alicia Deals became one of the few remaining social equity license holders to successfully open a dispensary and retain 100% equity. She also became one of the only Black women to own and operate a dispensary in Arizona, according to the Phoenix New Times and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. "We went for it," Deals said. "And we won, and we won in the most grandest fashion." Deal's story is unique because most of the other social equity license winners sold them to corporate dispensaries and/or private investors, according to the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
With the licenses awarded, the department deemed that its one-time allocation satisfied the language in the proposition, even going as far as claiming it set the standard for other social equity programs in the country, according to ADHS Interim Director Don Herrington. However, critics of the lottery say allocating 26 licenses – out of about 170 marijuana establishments statewide – wasn't nearly enough to be considered socially equitable.
"I would argue that the social equity licensing programs that exist in cannabis have done the exact opposite of what needed to be done," said Demitri Downing, founder and president of the Marijuana Industry Trade Association. Health department officials said they were tasked with administering the lottery, and they did so with "integrity and in full accordance with the law," according to an email from a spokesperson.
In terms of what happened after the lottery, the department "does not have legal standing to intervene in the sale of a dispensary." A Senate bill attempting to address issues with the social equity program – including enforcement against "predatory" agreements – failed to advance in the Legislature this year.
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