A NEW REPORT from the Cannabis Control Commission reveals that a lack of diversity persists at the senior leadership level across the cannabis industry despite Massachusetts’s mandate to ensure full participation of communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs.
The report, which is required by law and was initially due in December 2023 but is a year late, was presented to the commission on February 25 by the commission’s head of research, Julie Johnson. It showed that white individuals occupy 77 percent of senior-level positions, while Hispanic professionals hold four percent, Black professionals hold five percent, and Asian professionals five percent of these positions.
These numbers have improved since the last report, which came out in 2020, when 84 percent of the senior leadership was white, only 4 percent was Black, and 3 percent was Hispanic, but they still lag behind demographic trends. According to census data as of 2023, Massachusetts’s population is 69.6 percent white, 9.5 percent Black or African American, and 7.7 percent Asian. 13.1 percent of the population identifies as being Hispanic or Latino across all of the races. Senior leadership positions refer to board members, directors, executives, and managers, to name a few.
“If our stated goal was to ensure that the folks who were affected were supposed to get first access to this industry, then yeah, we could do better,” said Ryan Dominguez, the head of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition. “There is definitely always room for improvement, especially if those are the numbers that we’re seeing because there is a lot of interest for folks to be able to access the cannabis industry.”
From the outset, when the ballot question legalizing recreational marijuana in the state passed, there was a promise made by the state to help those harmed by the war on drugs profit from the legal cannabis industry.
Communities most harmed by cannabis prohibition face disproportionate barriers to entry into the cannabis industry, especially into senior positions, because there tend to be fewer employment opportunities for people with prior criminal convictions. There are also fewer social safety nets and less access to capital for people to enter the industry from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The cannabis industry report also shows that general employees who have more entry-level positions map closer to the census data with 68 percent white, seven percent Black, 10 percent Hispanic, and one percent Asian.
“It is no different than what we see happening in other industries in and around the state of Massachusetts with low presence of people of color,” said Dennis Benzan, the owner of the cannabis company Western Front with two retail locations in Cambridge and one in Chelsea. The difference here is that with cannabis and the evolution of cannabis in Massachusetts, we had an opportunity to get this right because it’s a new industry.”
Benzan has an “economic empowerment” certification – a category of license that is reserved for applicants who come from and who promise to employ people from communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.
The state’s Social Equity Program (SEP) and Economic Empowerment Program (EEP) were designed to lower barriers for entrepreneurs coming from diverse backgrounds, offering technical assistance, training, and priority licensing. There is also a special category for woman-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned businesses.
These certifications tend to have expedited timelines and get other benefits like reduced licensing fees. But, Benzan and other social equity cannabis operators have struggled to stay afloat in the industry because of a lack of access to capital and the falling price of marijuana.
Benzan’s classification as “economic empowerment” business means that he has to meet a set of criteria – one of which requires him to hire people from marginalized backgrounds, particularly those who live in disproportionately impacted communities and those who have criminal charges related to marijuana. This requirement does not apply across the industry.
“We’re being asked to do something to help remedy the past the criminalization of drugs in our communities in our neighborhoods, particularly disproportionately impacted communities, yet the entire industry doesn’t have that requirement, doesn’t have that mandate,” said Benzan.
The commission does require all cannabis companies to submit a “diversity plan” in which they describe how they will promote diversity and equity among people of color, women, veterans, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals as a part of their licensing process. However, there is no enforcement mechanism. The failure to meet diversity goals doesn’t impact the license renewal process.
“There’s been a reluctance from the commission to penalize folks seeking renewals for failing to complete the [goals in their] diversity plans,” said Kevin Gilnack, president of the cannabis advocacy group Equitable Opportunities Now. “Right now, the data [on the diversity plans] is so scattered, so it’s hard to formulate a policy, but we need to put some teeth on what should be a cornerstone of the Commonwealth’s effort to encourage equitable participation.”
Commissioner Bruce Stebbins, the acting chair of the commission, said that he is thinking about how to do more with the diversity plans and lay out clear guidelines on what cannabis companies should do to promote diversity.
“From day one, this commission and our predecessors on the commission have been focused on engaging folks that are disproportionately harmed or lived in disproportionately impacted communities,” Stebbins told CommonWealth Beacon Thursday. “Getting the data in the industry report is a good start because it can show us that we need to do better, and we want to partner with our licensees to do better as well.”
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