For those who missed cashing in on the Colorado pot rush, it’s all in the delivery, now.
Aurora lawmakers are on track to approve marijuana delivery regulations and permits that would single out a unique type of potential entrepreneur. The proposed measure would offer a chance at what would likely be lucrative business for someone from Aurora’s poorer areas, and those who were tripped up by Colorado pot laws before marijuana was legalized.
It’s a strong way to open business opportunities in Colorado’s billions-dollar cannabis industry among those locked out because they don’t have access to the vast sums of wealth and influence that have created the state’s burgeoning pot businesses.
The so-called “social equity” plan, given tentative approval this week by the Aurora City Council, would issue new cannabis delivery permits only to those who live in Aurora “opportunity zones” and to those convicted of marijuana possession charges when it was still illegal.
The opportunity zones are essentially areas with depressed economies and demographics representing those struggling economically themselves.
Currently, paid cannabis delivery is illegal in Aurora. A new state law allows cities to restrict delivery service applicants to those select “opportunity zones” populations in an effort to allow people other than wealthy white or well-connected businesspersons to have a chance at joining the entrepreneurial ranks they’ve been locked out of.
In Aurora, and most cities and counties permitting the sale of recreational marijuana, retail marijuana permits require vast sums of cash. It takes a virtual fortune to not only start up stores, but the require expensive cultivation systems to grow the marijuana. The Colorado system of regulation makes it virtually impossible for people without independent wealth or access to capital to break into the industry.
The Aurora measure addresses not only economics, but the harsh reality of those impacted by previous drug laws.
Those convicted of marijuana possession charges are also pushed out of many jobs and roles in the marijuana industry. It’s a mistake beyond irony that needs comprehensive changes on state and federal levels.
While all the details have yet to be completed, the Aurora measure protects the public in ensuring delivery drivers are competent and adhere to state marijuana laws. The benefit to budding businesspersons in poor areas is that it allows a relatively low-level of investment to create a profitable enterprise.
The opportunity zone restrictions for licenses would last for three years, according to the measure. That’s time enough to give people pushed out of getting a piece of the marijuana industry to cement a piece of it.
Worries by some city lawmakers, that allowing past marijuana possession convicts might increase the risk of illegal marijuana sales are baseless. The thousands of Colorado residents charged with marijuana possession were virtually victims of the state’s pot prohibition laws that were repealed by voters because they were so unfair and ineffective.
One of the reasons marijuana was legalized by voters is because possession laws were unfairly enforced across the state, often being pinned against residents of color more than any other demographic.
Reality about crime and the marijuana industry is just the opposite. The state’s legalized cannabis industry has driven down the price of marijuana and essentially ended a War on Drugs that was mostly a war on American youth and minorities. Colorado’s growing marijuana industry is a substantial state and local tax generator. While there are black-market sales mostly to out-of-state customers, where pot is not legalized, low commercial cost, high quality and now delivery, make the sale of homegrown weed essentially superfluous among adults.
Delivery, especially during the pandemic, is a natural progression of liberalized marijuana laws. Letting people whose only association with this billion-dollar industry is as customers or low-wage workers have a chance at capitalizing on the business is but a small step toward needed equity, It’s a good sign that Aurora lawmakers are willing to take that step.