{"id":9793,"date":"2023-08-14T18:38:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T18:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabisindustryjournal.com\/?post_type=column&amp;p=36928"},"modified":"2023-08-14T18:38:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T18:38:11","slug":"cannabis-social-equity-paving-the-path-for-inclusive-economic-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/cannabis-social-equity-paving-the-path-for-inclusive-economic-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannabis Social Equity: Paving the Path for Inclusive Economic\u00a0Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/cannabis-social-equity-paving-the-path-for-inclusive-economic-opportunities\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>The cannabis industry isn\u2019t a level playing field. It\u2019s disheartening to say. But as someone who has been building a soon-to-open dispensary for the last three years, I\u2019ve experienced this lack of equity firsthand.<\/p>\n<p>It starts with the industry\u2019s foundation. We\u2019re in an era where anyone can start a business. Create a logo, launch a website and upload promotional content on social media. A few clicks and\u2026boom, you\u2019re a business owner. Lovely, but absolutely not the case for the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Getting started is no easy feat.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Budding cannabis entrepreneurs (pun very much intended) need a ton of capital in order to get started. And as cannabis isn\u2019t federally legalized, entrepreneurs don\u2019t have access to traditional banking loans. They either need to fund their cannabis venture with their life savings or turn to family, friends and their community to fundraise. Unfortunately, not everyone has such privilege or access. This reality contributes to the industry\u2019s unequal playing field \u2013 and due to a lack of legalization, shows no signs of letting up.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_36931\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36931\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cannabisindustryjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jessica-F.-Gonzalez-240x300-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-36931\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cannabis-social-equity-paving-the-path-for-inclusive-economic-opportunities.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36931\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessica Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jessica Gonzalez, a Jersey City-based attorney and cannabis advocate, spoke to this challenge in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/njbiz.com\/cannabis-industry-remains-male-dominated-but-changes-could-be-coming\/#:~:text=Only%20about%2022%25%20of%20cannabusinesses,23.1%25%20over%20the%20past%20year.\">NJBiz<\/a> interview. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely expensive to enter and survive in this industry, and given the limited capital options, you are forced to seek private investors \u2013 which opens a whole can of racial and gender bias. The need to stay capitalized, coupled with constantly changing regulatory environments, expensive service professionals, lack of real estate, a social stigma and IRS tax code 280E, creates high barriers to entry and high survival barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Gonzales notes, funding is just one piece of the puzzle. Once you\u2019ve secured said funding and have decided to start a cannabis venture, you\u2019re navigating a minefield of ever-changing regulations. This demands the help of pricey service professionals\u2013attorneys, operators, marketers and more\u2013who remain abreast of current laws and have the subject matter expertise to properly guide you.<\/p>\n<p>The issues with the cannabis industry are clear \u2013 funding is difficult to secure, marketing is nearly impossible and pricey consultants are table stakes. On the bright side, operating in cannabis isn\u2019t all doom and gloom. Solutions are ahead\u2013and they\u2019ve been baked into the operating strategy of many fantastic, social-equity led dispensaries, including<a href=\"https:\/\/socialedispensary.com\/\">Soc\u00edale<\/a>, the soon-to-open Park Ridge, IL dispensary. While getting started is no easy feat, as leaders, we should each take it upon ourselves to empower those wanting to work with this life-changing plant by developing an industry that\u2019s ripe with endless opportunities.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Economically empowering employees should remain top-of-mind.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The lack of equitable wealth creation in the cannabis industry bolsters its inaccessibility. It\u2019s unfair that if a dispensary or cannabis business succeeds, only the entrepreneur wins financially. Yes, employees may get a small discretionary bonus at the end of the year \u2013 but they\u2019re not woven into the fabric of the business\u2019s profitability. Employees \u2013 and those earlier in the value chain, like growers \u2013 are left out in the cold, while dispensary owners seek to profit immensely.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cannabisindustryjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Sociale_Primary_RGB_Color-640w.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-36930 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cannabis-social-equity-paving-the-path-for-inclusive-economic-opportunities-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"102\" \/><\/a>Personally, when I started in the cannabis industry, I thought this dichotomy was blatantly unfair \u2013 and vowed to be a powerful force in changing that. At Soc\u00edale, profit sharing is a part of our DNA. Employees will take part in dispensary profits from the day they start. This way, everyone wins\u2013and if employees decide to start a cannabis venture of their own, that ambition is more in reach. This is a massive piece of what the cannabis industry preaches when it has conversations surrounding social equity. It\u2019s time the industry and its leaders back up this ideology with a plan of action. Embracing the concept of ownership not only among founders and senior leaders, but among employees at all levels, can provide a valuable taste of entrepreneurship. Situations like these often empower employees economically to create lasting changes for not just the company they\u2019re working for, but for themselves and their families at home.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Social equity license holders should pay it forward.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Social equity dispensaries should embrace the pay-it-forward mentality among the communities of which they serve, especially those disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. It\u2019s unfortunate to see dispensaries falsely advertise with a \u201csocial equity\u201d label, merely for the vanity of it all.<\/p>\n<p>Soc\u00edale is beholden to certain promises we made to the state of Illinois, who granted us our social equity license. This includes employing people from under-represented communities and advocating for cannabis social justice \u2013 two causes that we\u2019re deeply committed to. As we look to shape the future, let\u2019s remain hopeful about what it holds. Collaboration over competition needs to be the motto. If we all partner together to think beyond profits and aim to better the greater cannabis community, we\u2019ll all be better off.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\">\n<div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cannabis industry isn\u2019t a level playing field. It\u2019s disheartening to say. But as someone who has been building a soon-to-open dispensary for the last three years, I\u2019ve experienced this lack of equity firsthand. It starts with the industry\u2019s foundation. We\u2019re in an era where anyone can start a business. Create a logo, launch a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8459,7814,10381,5062,52,8509,8461,609,9257,1964,5334,2254,6288,6556,184,2299,8605,6430,77,8469,6431,9,2561,8471,8472,5235,421,8518,9259,10382,8477,1,3,18,61,1736],"tags":[8481,7815,10383,5063,2632,8535,8483,3182,9263,4532,5350,4821,6292,2415,2762,4866,8620,6433,2655,8491,6434,35,8493,8494,5237,2999,8544,9265,10384,8499,2622],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}