It’s Friday already and we’ve got another round of cannabis news you may have missed. From new dispensary openings to steps toward equity, here are some of this week’s top headlines.
New Yorkers just got a conscious cannabis store. The Union Square Travel Agency opened February 13th, touting that many of their products come from BIPOC and woman-owned brands. The retail store will redirect more than half of its proceeds to non-profit The Doe Fund, which works to help end homelessness, economic injustice, and recidivism. The company is expected to create fifty new jobs at its Broadway and 13th Street location.
Are we dreaming? Washingtonians may be able to cultivate their own weed soon. A bill passed out of the House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee with a 7-4 vote earlier this week. HB 1614 would make it legal for adults twenty-one and older to grow up to six plants per adult, with a maximum of fifteen per household. This comes more than a decade after the state legalized recreational cannabis, with the Evergreen State currently marking one of the few legal states that still prohibit home cultivation.
Unions, unions, unions. Budtenders at Captain Jack’s Dispensary in San Bernardino have joined the growing ranks of cannabis workers who have voted to unionize their workplace. The staff is joining Teamsters Local 1932, which represents more than 14,000 members.
Congrats, Connecticut. Fine Fettle has opened its fourth dispensary location, and its first recreational shop, in Manchester. The new store is also the state’s first equity joint venture establishment, meaning the company is at least 50 percent owned by those with an annual household income at least three times below the state’s median over the last three years. On top of that, individuals in the equity joint venture must have lived in a disproportionately impacted area for at least five of the last ten years, or nine years before the age of eighteen. Did you catch all that?
That’s what we like to see. California Governor Gavin Newsom awarded San Diego more than $880,000 from the Office of Business and Economic Development to promote equity in the local industry. The money is supposed to help residents entering the legal industry through funding grants to cover license and permit fees and other startup property costs. San Diego was one of sixteen cities and counties across California to receive a combined $15 million in grants from tax revenue collected from the state’s recreational cannabis industry.
