{"id":193078,"date":"2021-06-06T10:30:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T10:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=358621"},"modified":"2021-06-06T10:30:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T10:30:54","slug":"rhode-island-coalition-pushes-most-equitable-legal-cannabis-regulations-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/06\/06\/rhode-island-coalition-pushes-most-equitable-legal-cannabis-regulations-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island Coalition Pushes Most Equitable Legal Cannabis Regulations Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
In recent years,<\/u> it has become clear that there is no longer a question of whether we\u2019ll see the end of cannabis prohibition: All signs indicate that\u00a0cannabis will be legalized in the United States for adult recreational use. The questions now are about when it will happen and, crucially, how it will take shape.<\/p>\n
With every act of state-level decriminalization, an aperture is created \u2014 a space for creating policy around cannabis that could influence how the inevitable national shifts take place. In one such vision, major corporations can step in and further establish \u201cBig Weed\u201d monopolies. In another, opportunities are created for those in power to reckon with the extreme racist violence of the war on drugs and to ensure that the communities decimated by prohibition can benefit from legal weed going forward.<\/p>\n
Thanks, as ever, to tireless grassroots efforts, a focus on racial and social justice is increasingly becoming the standard for legalizing cannabis. At present, a coalition<\/a> of anti-racist activists and labor organizers in Rhode Island are working to pass the most progressive legalization legislation in the country.<\/p>\n From Illinois to Vermont, legislatures have included at least some equity policies in their legalization laws, but the Rhode Island activists will be following most closely in the footsteps of New York. When it became<\/a> the 15th state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in March, the state set a bar for centering racial and class equity.<\/p>\n Under the New York law, 40 percent of tax revenue from cannabis will be invested into poor Black and Latinx communities most harmed by the violent policing of weed. Programs and grants will be set up to ensure access to the weed industry for members of those communities. Half of cannabis licenses are to be reserved for social equity applicants. And, vitally, all cannabis-related criminal records will be automatically expunged.<\/p>\n Yes We Cannabis RI, the Rhode Island coalition, aims to surpass all existing models. The group is demanding every justice-oriented policy in the New York law, with the addition of prioritizing cannabis licenses for community-based, worker-owned cooperatives, while ensuring cannabis workers\u2019 ability to collectively organize.<\/p>\n Current proposals on the table from the Rhode Island Senate and Gov. Dan McKee include close to no equity provisions. A more promising bill has been proposed in the Rhode Island House, but without specifically reserving ample licenses for worker-owned cooperatives, this legalization bill does not go far enough either. The coalition’s insistence that half the licenses, and thus the market, go to social equity licenses \u2014 with half of those social equity licenses reserved for worker cooperatives \u2014 is a novel intervention with the real potential to keep “Big Weed” at\u00a0bay.<\/p>\n \u201cThe protections against discrimination and further decriminalization of cannabis-related activities is really crucial,\u201d Jared Moffat, a Rhode Island lead organizer for\u00a0the Marijuana Policy Project, a national advocacy organization, told me by email. \u201cWe have every reason to think that, if these policies are not addressed, people of color will once again be disproportionately impacted, just as they are under the current regime.\u201d<\/p>\n The specter of<\/u> other states\u2019 previous shortcomings hangs over current legalization efforts when it comes to enacting and implementing laws that put an emphasis on reparative justice and equity. The prospect of federal-level legislation also looms:\u00a0A new bill was introduced<\/a> by Democratic House representatives late last month, which racial justice advocates say<\/a> does not go far enough to even closely remedy the harms of prohibition. With this context in mind, there\u2019s a clear urgency for state-level legalization to pass the strongest possible measures when it comes to benefiting the victims of criminalization.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve seen a similar pattern unfold in almost every jurisdiction that has attempted to pass legalization in an equitable way, beginning with California and Massachusetts five years ago,\u201d Shaleen Title, vice chair of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition, told me.<\/p>\n Title, the former lead regulator overseeing the implementation of Massachusetts\u2019s effort to end marijuana prohibition, detailed the typical, disappointing trajectory, following the passing of a hard-won bill oriented around social justice: \u201cRegulators listen to the community and make an honest attempt to implement it, but barriers\u00a0\u2014 like a lack of capital, difficulty finding property that meets the requirements, and a local approval process steeped in systemic racism\u00a0\u2014 hold back progress among people most harmed by the war on drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n All the while, wealthy businesses and those with preexisting medical marijuana operations are primed to move in. On Tuesday, Amazon announced its support for the federal legalization of marijuana. CNN Business described<\/a> the move as \u201cindicating a growing willingness in Corporate America to throw its weight behind the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n We can be pleased that workers will no longer be policed and punished by companies like Amazon for marijuana use or previous weed-related arrests, but this is a bare minimum. There\u2019s a clear need, however, for policies like those demanded by the Rhode Island coalition, which set out a road map for putting the future of the cannabis industry in the direct hands of locally situated workers and providing the capital and information to ensure worker cooperatives\u2019 access.<\/p>\n\u201cThe protections against discrimination and further decriminalization of cannabis-related activities is really crucial.”<\/blockquote>\n