Micha Green
Now that recreational marijuana use is legal for D.C. residents 21 and
older, various business opportunities have emerged within the cannabis
industry. Entrepreneurs hoping to benefit from the new legislation are
working to create even opportunities.
Since the passing of Initiative 71, which legalized recreational use
of cannabis, hydroponic stores, classes to grow the plant, paraphernalia
shops, and medical marijuana dispensaries are popping up throughout the
city. However, because Initiative 71 did not provide for a way to
legally purchase marijuana for non-medical use the only way to buy
marijuana in D.C. is with a medical card.
Forbes reported in January that legal marijuana sales in the US
increased 30 percent last year to $6.7 billion. It is hard to pinpoint
how much money is being made in D.C. from marijuana since its
legalization. Nonetheless, cannabis industry insiders contend that the
Black community has the ability to be part of this multi-billion dollar
business.
According to the 2016 Census, there are 48.3 percent of Blacks living
in Washington, D.C.—almost half of the city. Two of the top five
medical marijuana dispensaries listed in D.C., Metropolitan Wellness
Center and Capital City Care, are Black owned.
While that may seem like a lot, 40 percent of the market, it is
actually not very much in a small industry with an even smaller
demographic of Black owned shops.
At the recent National Cannabis Festival, representatives from both
Capital City Care and Metropolitan Wellness Center, all of whom were of
color, implied that Black people can and should be making more money in
the cannabis industry.
Corey Barnette, an owner of Metropolitan Wellness Center and District
Growers, which cultivates marijuana plants and makes cannabis infused
edibles, contends that a good way for Blacks to enter the weed industry
is through growing. “For years our community has suffered the brunt of a
very vicious, attacking, and destructive drug war. Now you have an
entire industry being built from the ground up and that ground starts
with actually growing,” Barnette told the AFRO.
According to D.C. law, adults can grow up to six plants in private
homes, but only three at a time can be mature. As growing is legal,
Barnette said he thinks it’s the best way to enter in the cannabis
business as it continues to flourish. “If we’re going to have an
industry be born, we [Blacks] as a community have the opportunity to
actually participate in the birth of an industry that we could be
dominant in,” he said.
While Barnette is established and continuing to grow both literally
and within the industry, other Blacks are starting to take note of the
opportunities in the cannabis business.
In Southeast D.C., Good Hope Hydroponics is owned by two cousins of
European descent, but has clientele that matches the community –
predominantly Black. A majority of the store’s patrons are Black and
male.
Dezo El, a Black man who started Buttermilk 420 Farms, a business
that teaches people how to grow and offers cannabis infused items, told
the AFRO he was visiting Good Hope Hydroponics even before
officially moving to D.C. El said he relocated from Brooklyn to
capitalize on the cannabis industry in D.C. and has learned the way to
make money legally.
“. . . so many of us was arrested and thrown in jail for smoking a
joint, having a joint, selling a joint or whatever, but the system here
is different,” he said. “D.C. Initiative 71 is about more donations
where they initialized the thought of everybody growing on their own,
but they don’t want people selling to each other. So I can donate some
weed to you, but literally there’s supposed to be no money transfer . . .
So that’s what we do now.”
El and Barnette said they believe that even when one knows how to
work the system the legalities surrounding weed can get tricky. “Well
right now you have a city that has not set up a legal framework that
allows the efficient sale of cannabis in a way that benefits both the
city and the entrepreneurs,” Barnette said. “So right now a lot of
what’s happening in D.C. is really happening in the Black market. That
should not be the case. With all of the talent and with all of the
capability that we have in our communities here in D.C., we should be
able to open up store fronts. We should be able to supply existing store
fronts, and we should be able to participate in a formal market the way
that every other business does.”
Because of the caveats that lead to setbacks in growth within the
cannabis industry, Sabria Still of Metropolitan Wellness Center said,
the Black community first needs to be present when decisions are getting
made. “We’re not there at the table when these laws are written. We’re
not there with the city hall when people are asking whether or not they
want medical marijuana in their county or city or state,” she told the AFRO.
Still, 24, argues that it is up to those who are already involved in
the cannabis industry to educate and serve as a representative to the
Black community to get involved. “I feel like it’s my duty, since I’ve
been involved, to get others involved and kind of let them know the
importance of cannabis,” she added.
For now, industry insiders are emphasizing the importance of
educating the Black community on all the integral aspects of cannabis
and the business surrounding it. “I think that a lot of people in the
African-American community in D.C. haven’t been given access to the
education and the information on how to become viable cannabis business
owners or activists,” Caroline Phillips, founder and executive producer
of the National Cannabis Festival, told the AFRO. The festival was held in D.C. on April 22.
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