Right here we go once more…
This time Missouri
The Missouri Unbiased
John Payne, managing associate of Modification 2 Consultants, discusses the laws at an trade summit in downtown St. Louis on March 28 with Amy Moore (center), director of the Division of Hashish Regulation, and Mitch Meyers, associate at BeLeaf Medical (Rebecca Rivas). /Missouri Unbiased). When John Payne led the marketing campaign to legalize leisure hashish in 2022, he confronted a serious impediment.
Black enterprise house owners had been largely excluded from the medical marijuana program when licenses to develop and promote hashish had been distributed by the state in 2019, and plenty of feared that historical past was about to repeat itself.
So, to assuage considerations and win over skeptics, Payne partnered with black group leaders to seek out what they hoped was an answer—a social fairness program, referred to as “microbusiness licenses,” that might diversify the 'trade and make sure the communities most impacted by the Battle on medication has not been as soon as exterior the rising trade.
“We all know from the info that the individuals who have been harmed by the prohibition of marijuana immediately, Black People are overrepresented,” Payne, who’s white, instructed The Unbiased final yr.
As a result of the prohibition of marijuana did essentially the most harm to the Black group – Black Missourians are 2.6 instances extra more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than white Missourians – “that ought to carry over into a very good disproportionate influence of the licenses of microbusiness,” Payne stated.
However paperwork found by The Unbiased present that in some circumstances, Payne and his enterprise companions had been those who wished to learn essentially the most from the social fairness program.
Payne's title is linked to greater than 300 social fairness purposes submitted earlier this yr for the second spherical of microbusiness licenses, profitable six of the 24 dispensary licenses chosen by way of a lottery in June and formally issued Wednesday.
For a number of the purposes, Payne recruited eligible Missourians and had them signal a 47-page contract that might finally give him and his companions 90.1% of the income and management of many of the enterprise.
Regardless of solely proudly owning a fraction of the enterprise, below state legislation, candidates bear the lion's share of regulatory scrutiny. In the event that they nonetheless need to stroll away from the deal, they are going to be compelled to pay a payment of virtually $1 million.
Missouri revokes 9 social fairness hashish enterprise licenses for out-of-state corporations
In an interview with The Unbiased, Payne defended the contract, saying that the settlement was designed for individuals who wished to enter the trade, however didn’t need to put their very own cash.
Learn extra
https://republicmonitor.com/tales/missouri-cannabis-leader-accused-of-using-predatory-contracts-to-win-social-equity-licenses,91439
https://www.amendment2consultants.com/staff
https://canvasrebel.com/meet-john-payne/
