In 2020, states with legal adult-use and medical cannabis laws are flooding with cash, from Nevada and Massachusetts to Illinois (which reportedly sold over $11 million-worth in a week); they’re also troublingly behind on quality, consumer access, and especially their social equity.

As state leaders like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo prepare to launch new cannabis platforms of their own, longtime industry and community members warn that, without acknowledging the drug war’s harms but also the history of US cannabis use generally, regulators and private industry will still be missing the big picture, and inevitably pay the price.

In short, social and racial equity must become foundations rather than buzzwords in cannabis — and be treated as a complex process, needing patience and investment — if this entire industry is going to succeed.

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