The failure of a key marijuana bill in Arizona’s Legislature has triggered an angry round of the blame game by social equity advocates, who charge that more established companies torpedoed the bill because they want to keep the state’s cannabis market to themselves.
According to social equity advocates, the defeat of House Bill 2050 last week means social equity licensees will, for now, be shut out of most of the major metro markets in Arizona, including Phoenix and Tucson.
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As a result, those smaller operators – mainly those affected by the war on drugs – could be forced to sell their permits to the highest bidder, industry sources said.
That’s because much of the state has already banned stand-alone adult-use marijuana companies.
By contrast, longstanding medical marijuana companies in Arizona have far wider latitude when choosing locations, because they were given the initial crack at selling both MMJ
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