"Achieving Diversity in the Marijuana Industry: Should States Implement Social Equity into Their Regimes?"

The title of this post is the title of this new paper recently posted to SSRN and authored by Jared Kriwinsky, a recent graduate The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.  This paper is the twelveth in an on-going series of student papers supported by Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.  (The eleven prior papers in this series are linked below.)  Here is this latest paper's abstract:

As states across the country continue to legalize marijuana, in medical or recreational form, a new legal market is forming. As more and more companies begin to profit off the legalization of marijuana it begs the question: who is reaping the economic benefits of legalization?  Following decades of the War of Drugs, minority communities have been particularly devastated.  Consequently, states who have legalized marijuana both recreationally and medically have a duty to ensure equal access for the minority communities who were disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. 

This paper examines social equity regimes throughout the country and how states have attempted to induce minority participation in the marijuana industry.  It analyzes the arguments for and against social equity regimes.  The primary goal of this article is to address the arguments against social equity regimes in the marijuana industry, and induce states to implement common sense, economical regimes that give equal and just opportunities to those in the minority community.

Prior student papers in this series:

• "The Canna(business) of Higher Education"
• "Marijuana Banking in New York and Around the US: 'Swim at Your Own Risk'"
• "Intellectual Property Survey: Cannabis Plant Types, Methods of Extraction, IP Protection, and One Patent That Could Ruin It All"
• "Marijuana in the Workplace: Distinguishing Between On-Duty and Off-Duty Consumption"
• "An Argument Against Regulating Cannabis Like Alcohol"
• "The State of Marijuana in The Buckeye State and Fiscal Policy Considerations of Legalized Recreational Marijuana"
• "Race Based Statutes at Play with Cannabis: Cultivating a Process for Weeding Out the Competition"
• "Tribal Cannabis: Balancing Tribal Sovereignty and Cooperative Enforcement"
• "Land of the Free, Home of the (Disgruntled) Brave: The Case for Allowing Veterans Access to Medical Marijuana"
• "Cannabidiol (CBD) in the Therapeutics Industry"
• "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Why IRC § 280E Is Not the Industry Killer It Is Portrayed to Be"