The Seeds of Change report ranks states according to social justice, equity, and inclusion criteria and also identifies eight distinct SJEI strategies for lawmakers to incorporate within cannabis legalization.
As new states legalize cannabis, Seeds of Change lays out what we can learn from the most equitable state markets and how it can be used to create thoughtful and intentional policy,” said Janessa Bailey, author of Seeds of Change and creator of the Leafly Equity Score.
“Equity in cannabis isn’t an elusive pipe dream: Seeds of Change lays out eight real strategies that any state can include within cannabis legalization to build an industry that is as accessible as it is profitable.
The 2021 Leafly Seeds of Change report includes additional details and data on the eight social equity strategies for cannabis legalization and concludes with an examination of systemic racial discrimination policies in the United States that have prevented the cannabis industry from becoming equitable, namely the failed War on Drugs, generational economic barriers, and the over-policing of communities of color.
An individual state’s Equity Score is based on its performance within the eight noted categories, including clemency and expungement measures, medical marijuana access, homegrow laws, data collection and publication, and the unique makeup of individual state social equity cannabis programs. Some categories, such as expungement and licensing equity, were given more weight than others, such as data collection.