Jessica Jackson looked out over a crowd of could-be recreational cannabis entrepreneurs gathered at Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis and asked for a show of hands.
How many have experience running a business? How many have been in the low-potency hemp industry but are hoping to move into legal cannabis? Each time, a quarter to a third of those who nearly filled the center's auditorium raised their hands.
One query, though, also elicited some nervous laughter. How many have been involved in "the legacy market," legalization-speak for the illegal sale of cannabis? A few dozen raised their hands while others might have been unwilling to self-identify as participants in the gray market.
Yet those same people — both those who raised their hands and those who were too shy — could have an advantage in the upcoming legalization market. Of the seven categories that define "social equity applicant" in the new law, a status that provides benefits including pre approval of licenses and even early cultivation of cannabis this fall, four involve past illegal sales or possession. For example, someone convicted of illegal sales or possession before the new recreational cannabis law was passed can be a social equity applicant. The same is true for someone with a parent, a spouse or a child who had such a conviction.
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