Across America, men make up close to 80 percent of cannabis business owners, as per MJBizDaily. Another report by Leafly indicates that black people owned only 2 percent of the cannabis companies in a sector reportedly worth $18 billion.
In recent times, several states across the country and some parts of the world have decriminalized cannabis. This has led to the participation of some blacks in the sector, including Calandra Revering, who is a criminal defense attorney.
She is the founder of Good Zen, a cannabis business in Brooklyn. According to Revering, setting up a cannabis business is beyond just selling hemp-derived THC products. It represents the fight for justice, a principle that has guided her work as a criminal defense attorney. In this regard, the walls of her cannabis store will have portraits of Martin Luther King Jr., Breonna Taylor, and former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page.
She also wants to uplift others, particularly people of color and women with her venture, hence, she launched the Minnesota Association for Black Cannabis Professionals to be a resource for her community and help them navigate the new industry in Minnesota, which has complex regulations, according to CBS News.
In 2022, Minnesota legalized the sale and consumption of edibles containing small amounts of hemp-derived THC. In May, Gov. Tim Walz signed an expansive cannabis legalization bill into law, allowing the recreational use of cannabis for adults 21 and older starting August 1.
“I feel that the bill is written so that cannabis can remain at a local level, but I think there’s a lack of how the information is getting to minority communities,” Revering said to CBS. “Because when I attend events, I don’t see people who look like me. So I hope to be that channel, to give that information.”
“The people of Minnesota deserve this. We deserve to get into the space and make it what the bill intends. And that is to make it for Minnesotans, by Minnesotans,” she added, hoping to leverage her legal expertise to help blacks who want to venture into the cannabis industry.
Soon, Revering hopes to get a license to operate a dispensary selling adult-use marijuana. The criminal defense attorney wants to have the first Black, woman-owned store selling products.
