Catherine R. Salerno, Esq.

https://scholarship.shu.edu/student_scholarship/1301/

Everything that Trulieve is doing to its employees and “partners” is happening right here in

Washington State. As noted, they have abused my Black Sisters and Brothers in Ohio the same
way that Nate “Snake” miles (according to NAACP’s Gerald Hankerson to Kevin Shelton) tried

when he was going to cop 49% of Kevin and his brother Ben’s recreational store for his

daughter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W88wNmJQrrc&t

Now Nate Miles is an NAACP wonk. What’s sad about this whole organization is that I saw

it sell itself out 20+ years ago when I was N AACP Legal Chair with Bruce Gordon

(Verizon/NSA Wiretaps anyone – Bruce was VZW VP at the time so he likely knew) and then

my Dad brought it up just last week when my partner and I went home to visit for my Hawken

School 40th reunion. In fact, the victims of Trulieve in Ohio are Hawken folk too. Anyway more

on all of that later but Trulieve is basically exploiting people too in my opinion:

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/medical-marijuana-company-files-238-million-lawsuit-
against-harvest-of-ohio-for-unpaid-loans-interest/LWQKXHK44RHEFNNVWM5J44EMTU/

Medical marijuana company files $23.8 million lawsuit against

Harvest of Ohio for unpaid loans, interest.
 C. Too Little, Too Late

Early adopters of recreational cannabis failed to implement social equity licensing

schemes at inception, so their markets are already saturated. 1 Ten years after legalizing

recreational cannabis, Washington state legislators are attempting to enact a social equity plan. 124

The Washington House introduced a bill in 2022 to increase the number of business licenses and

reserve them for those impacted most by the War on Drugs. 2 The last time the state increased the

number of cannabis retail licenses was in 2016 and it has issued no new producer or processor

licenses since 2013.3

Opponents of the bill do not want more cannabis businesses because they feel there will

not be enough competition in the industry.4 They believe that the market is in danger of

destabilization if flooded with even more participants. 128 When Washington legislators legalized

recreational cannabis, officials focused on processing license applications quickly. 5 This

benefitted entrepreneurs with existing capital. 130 Social equity was an afterthought, and the

failure to implement such a system has clear consequences. While over four percent of

Washington’s population is Black, only about one percent of businesses are majority-owned by

Black individuals.131 [Note: Aaron Bossett and others warned them ab inito, just sayin’.]

1 Dede Perkins, Where Are We Now? Social Equity in the US Cannabis Industry, CANNABIS INDUS. J.
(Oct. 5, 2021), https://cannabisindustryjournal.com/featurearticle/where-are-we-now-social-equity-in-the-us-
cannabis-industry/. 124 Melissa Santos, Adding pot shops to improve social equity hits snag in WA Legislature,
CROSSCUT (Feb. 14, 2022), https://crosscut.com/politics/2022/02/adding-pot-shops-improve-social-equity-hits-
snag-wa-legislature.
2 Id.
3 Id.
4

Id. 128 Id.

5

Id. 130 Id.

131
Id.
 Colorado also legalized recreational cannabis in 2012, which created a $2.2 billion

industry.6 While social equity was not incorporated into the Colorado scheme, many are now

concerned with the industry’s lack of diversity.7 For example, the Denver Social Equity Program

was launched to create equity for historically underserved individuals. 134 The program limits new

licenses for the next five years to social equity applicants. 8 The difficulty with the scheme is that

the market is supersaturated and there is a rule prohibiting more than one cannabis business from

existing within one thousand feet of another or closer than one thousand feet to schools, day care

centers, recreation centers, and drug treatment centers. 9 In addition, seventy percent of the city is

in a residential zone ineligible for commercial businesses. 137 So, while states that were early

entrants into the cannabis industry seek to create more opportunities for social equity, those

efforts would have more effectively served the community if they were incorporated from the

start.

And where on Earth did the resolve to help the Black Pioneers and reparations disappear to?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5FyNGdNhP4&t
Black Original Cannabis License Holders Tell the Truth About Seattle Racism: Uglier than New Jersey.

Sincerely,

Christopher King, J.D.

617.543.8085m
Kingcast955@icloud.com

6 Tatiana Flowers, Denver wants to open the marijuana industry to those most impacted by the drug war.
Some say it came too late., THE COLORADO SUN (Mar. 1, 2022), https://coloradosun.com/2022/03/01/denver-wants-
to-open-themarijuana-industry-to-those-most-impacted-by-the-drug-war-some-say-it-came-too-late/.
7

Id. 134 Id.

8 Id.
9

Id. 137 Id.