Following Washington’s creation of the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force during the 2020 legislative session, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“LCB”) approved draft social equity licensing rules for cannabis licensees on August 3. The proposed rules would add section “570 Social Equity in Cannabis Program” to Washington Annotated Code (“WAC”) Title 314-55. The rule is aimed at granting retail cannabis licensing opportunities to people who have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs, and could go into effect as early as September 28.
The rule contains eligibility criteria and application scoring criteria, each attempting to identify the most disproportionately affected and ensure they receive the highest chance of being approved. Unfortunately, certain elements of the rule create cause for concern, or at least confusion. As discussed below, my concern is that if unchanged, parts of the rule are likely to harm the very people it is intended to benefit.
Social equity eligibility criteria
To qualify, a WA resident must hold at least 51% of each social equity retail license applicant and the person or persons making up the applicant must meet at least two of the following qualifications:
the applicant has lived in a Disproportionately
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