Black Entrepreneur Talks About the Future of Cannabis
The cannabis industry to come
By Leena Alali, Fri., Dec. 2, 2022
While Texas may not be the nation's model example of marijuana reform, recent local and national moves may force the state to catch up.
As of Nov. 8, five more Texas cities have voted to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession. Austin voters overwhelmingly approved a measure decriminalizing possession of small amounts of cannabis in May (and the county hadn't been prosecuting people for that offense for years). Now, other Texas cities are following suit, with much credit to Ground Game Texas, the progressive nonprofit mobilizing liberal Texas voters. Measures like Austin's were on the ballot in Denton, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Harker Heights. All passed easily, with the slimmest win for cannabis possession being 60% of the vote in Harker Heights in Bell County and the strongest showing in San Marcos with 82% of the vote.
"These meaningful reforms will keep people out of jail and save scarce public resources for more important public safety needs," Mike Siegel, political director of Ground Game Texas, told The Texas Tribune.
Movement on the national political stage mirrors that – President Joe Biden announced that he would pardon all individuals who had been charged federally for simple possession of marijuana on or before Oct. 6. (He also called on governors to do the same with nonfederal convictions. Gov. Greg Abbott has rejected the suggestion.) Meanwhile, on Nov. 16, the first bipartisan marijuana bill passed through the U.S. Senate. The Medical Marijuana Research Act, expected to be signed by Biden in the coming weeks, will make medical research for cannabis treatment more accessible and mitigate current legal hurdles. The bill represents a focal point for many involved in the cannabis industry, as it signals potential changes for future regulations.
But as Texas and the nation move toward a more cannabis-friendly culture, some in the community are noting the irony that comes from the sudden advocacy for weed.
"The people that are dominating the [cannabis] space are the same people that used to advocate for the laws that locked us up," said Hope Wiseman at a Nov. 16 panel at AfroTech, the conference for Black members of the tech industry, which came to Austin for the first time last month. Wiseman, co-founder and CEO of the cannabis investment and holding company WISECO and once the youngest Black woman to own a dispensary, said that Black entrepreneurs need to be able to jump into the industry just as easily as other members of other communities do, especially since the cannabis industry was one that was and is being used to harm them.
At the start of the highly anticipated panel, Wiseman shared that she had initially jumped into the cannabis industry purely for the business opportunity. Over time, she realized the power, influence, and responsibility she was able to wield when it came to criminal justice reform in the marijuana space and began working toward a path to become an advocate for the Black community. "As African Americans, cannabis was used to marginalize our communities, it was used to overpolice us," Wiseman said. "Now, we are changing the world and are changing the way we are policed in the U.S. through cannabis policy, and I am so proud to be a part of that."
According to the ACLU, Black people in Texas are 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white individuals.
Along with issues of power due to racial inequity, she pointed out the difficulty of running a company that deals with marijuana. As a federally classified Schedule I controlled substance, dispensary owners are unable to earn tax deductions in the same way that other businesses would due to limitations from the IRS, making business endeavors significantly more expensive. "Because the regulatory environment is still growing and we're still able to impact it, we have this unique opportunity to create the industry that we want to see," Wiseman said.
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