Starting on October 2, a felony conviction will no longer automatically bar a person from applying for a cannabis license in Washington state. Under the new system, felonies will be examined on a case by case basis instead of serving as an automatic disqualifier.
This is a bright change of pace for the Washington state industry, which has had a rocky road toward equity.
“We wanted to bring parity in the disproportionality that we saw from the leftover of the war on drugs and that Black people were being arrested and brown people were being arrested disproportionately,” said Rep. Melanie Morgan, chair of the state Social Equity on Cannabis Task Force.
