Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | January 7, 2019 | wbjournal.com Aer making up a disproportionately large share of the industry before it was legal, minority marijuana businesses are now hard to come by Lack of diversity Of the 224 active applicants for Massachusetts marijuana business licenses, nearly all don't identify as a disadvantaged business enterprise. BY ZACHARY COMEAU Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer LEFT BEHIND M arijuana is now legal to sell in Massachusetts, and the state's newest industry has taken off. Five stores have been given the state's greenlight to sell products, and more than $2.2 million of cannabis products were sold in the first month of sales in an industry anticipated in bring in $1 billion by its second fiscal year. Worcester native Ross Bradshaw and his prospective marijuana retail busi- ness New DIA want to tap into that money-making machine, with an appli- cation to Worcester officials in the hopes of landing one of the last six host community agreements. But people in the marijuana industry like Bradshaw – a minority who grew up in the Washington Heights neigh- borhood of Worcester – are hard to find. The industry, which in its infancy relies on companies with ready access to cash, is not very diverse. According to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, 3.1 per- cent of the 224 businesses in the state's regulatory system are owned by minori- ties, 2.2 percent are owned by women and a 1.8 percent are owned by LGBT people. Meanwhile, 85.3 percent are owned by someone not identifying as a disad- vantaged business enterprise, meaning they most likely are run by white males. Minority workers in the marijuana industry – whether they be executives, board members, managers, employees or volunteers – are also hard to find in the industry. According to the CCC, 73 percent of the state's marijuana workers are white, as of Dec. 13. The next larg- est group in the industry is Latinos at 6.4 percent. African Americans make up 4.2 percent of workers. Before marijuana was legal to sell and possess in Massachusett, minorities played a disproportionately large role in the cannabis industry, based on arrest records. But now with the industry legalized, nearly all the businesses are run by rich white men, and their work- forces skew disproportionately white. To combat this trend, state marijuana officials have crafted a new program meant to include more minorities and people impacted by the War on Drugs in the legal industry. Cities like Boston PHOTO: ZACHARY COMEAU Veteran-owned 3 1.3% LGBT-owned 4 1.8% Women-owned 5 2.2% Minority-owned 7 3.1% Identified as two or more DBE business types 14 6.3% Did not identify as a DBE Business 191 85.3% Total 224 100% Number Percent of Business type of applicants total applicants Race breakdown Nearly three out of four workers for Massachusetts marijuana businesses are white. Includes executives, board members, managers, employees and volunteers. Industry agent Number Percent White 1182 73.0% Hispanic; Latino; Spanish 104 6.4% Black; African American 68 4.2% Identified as two or more ethnicities 25 1.5% Asian 19 1.2% Middle Eastern; North African 2 0.1% American Indian; Alaska Native 2 0.1% Other race or ethnicity 24 1.5% Declined to answer 193 11.9% Total 1619 100 Source: Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Ross Bradshaw hopes to turn this vacant space in a Main South strip mall in Worcester into the New DIA marijuana retailer, although he currently is on the outside looking in for city and state approval.

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