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Document Type
Podcast
Publication Year
2022
Description
After decades of targeted state violence on black communities in the name of drugs through arrests and incarceration, the states are now in the process of legalizing marijuana. In order to make the cannabis industry more equitable, New York will grant 50 percent of the licenses to sell recreational marijuana to equity applicants,including individuals from impacted communities, minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs), distressed farmers, justice-involved individuals and service-disabled veterans, and would support these licensees to sustain and develop their businesses. In November 2022, New York published the names of the first 36 individuals and organizations who are to receive licenses.
In this episode, we explore the state of implementation of the MRTA and the potential hurdles towards achieving an equitable cannabis industry. We spoke with formerly incarcerated activist and business owner Alex Anderson to learn about his interaction with the MRTA. Alex’s experience raises significant questions about the ability of the MRTA to address the concerns and needs of individuals and communities that were worst affected by the War on Drugs.
We think in light of the overall failure of equity provisions in other States and the pivotal role that the war on drugs has played in constructing and criminalizing blackness in America, critical race literacy is crucial to understanding and remedying these issues. In our view, the simplification of the application process for obtaining licenses, clearly laying out the criteria/basis for selection, greater involvement of community based groups in the licensing process, and greater efforts to increase literacy about the reality of the war on drugs may be starting points for this important change.
Disciplines
Criminal Law | Law and Race | Race and Ethnicity
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Center/Program
Studio for Law and Culture
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Alex; DeVeaux, Mika’il; and Northrup, Eli, "CRT2 S2 Ep5: War on Drugs – Marijuana Commerce" (2022). CRT2 Season 2. 4.
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/crt2_2/4
Episode Details
Length: 39:45
Featuring:
Eli Northrup is the Policy Director for the Criminal Defense Practice, Bronx Defenders.
No image available
Alex Anderson is a business owner.
Mika’il DeVeaux, Ph.D. is the Chairman of the Cannabis Social Equity Coalition of New York State.