The new license is an attempt to increase the number of minority-owned operators in the state’s fledgling cannabis industry.
What angered some members of the CDA was the CCC’s decision to make the delivery and courier-style license only available to applicants in social equity programs for the first three years.
In other words, all the state’s existing dispensaries would be barred from delivery until at least 2024.
The CDA has since withdrawn their lawsuit, stating that many of its members had pressured them to drop the case.
“We all need to be working together on achieving our many shared objectives, including increasing the participation of a diverse set of entrepreneurs in the industry,” noted the CDA in a subsequent statement.
We spoke with the owners of Massachusetts dispensary chain Canna Provisions, Meg Sanders and Erik Williams, to learn more about the social equity landscape in the state.
Sanders has an extensive background in cannabis, having served as CEO for Mindful (a Colorado and Illinois dispensary chain), and later acting as a consultant for many multi-state operators around the country.
Williams is also an owner of Mindful and together the duo formed Will & Way Consulting in 2016 prior to launching Canna Provisions in Massachusetts.
