NJ Denies It Hasn’t Licensed A Black Owner Since Legalizing Weed

WEST ORANGE, NJ — NOTE: This article has been updated with statements from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission and a spokesperson from the governor’s office, who have disputed claims from the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and Rep. Donald Payne Jr.

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For Corey Dishmen and Charles Penn, the people who make up the “cannabis culture” of New Jersey have always been “100 percent inclusive of everyone.” And that goes for the people who work in the marijuana business, too.

But according to the owners of The Library – who are hoping to open New Jersey’s first, Black-owned cannabis dispensary in West Orange – there’s no denying that the state has a long way to go when it comes to social justice and marijuana.

New Jersey voters approved recreational cannabis in a landmark November 2020 ballot question. Read More: 5 Things You Need To Know About Marijuana Legalization In NJ

Part of the effort was aimed at correcting injustices of the past, including the state’s longtime racial disparity in weed arrests and the toll it has taken on minority communities.

As late as 2017, New Jersey was averaging 95 marijuana possession arrests per day, or nearly one arrest every 15 minutes. The ACLU-NJ said that – as in previous years – Black people stood almost a 3-to-1 higher chance of being arrested on a marijuana charge in New Jersey than white people that year.

When narrowed by county, the racial gap in arrests got even starker in some portions of the state, the ACLU-NJ pointed out. Black people in Hunterdon County were 11 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. In Ocean County, Black people were arrested at seven times the rate for possession. And in Salem County, the disparity was six times the rate.

When the state’s new Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) took over the licensing process for recreational and medical marijuana businesses, one of its duties was to make sure that diversity among the new owners remained balanced.

But that’s not happening at all, some say … not by a long shot.

So far, not a single one of the licenses that have been awarded for cannabis businesses in the state has gone to a Black entrepreneur, according to the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

“Based on conversations I’ve had, with stakeholders, out of the 56 licenses awarded to date, none has been awarded to a Black-owned business,” said the chamber’s founder, John Harmon.

“People need to know what’s going on,” Harmon added.

Harmon said that many Black-owned businesses have been trying to get into the state’s cannabis industry since 2012, when medical marijuana became legal in New Jersey. And just like back then, Black entrepreneurs are being passed over and marginalized, he alleged.

“No Black-owned business received a license back then, and none has received a license since the legalization of cannabis for recreational use thus far,” Harmon said.

The state hasn’t balked at making these entrepreneurs pay for the privilege of applying for a license, however, he added.

According to Harmon, the commission requires that applicants maintain site control while its members consider their application. In other words, applicants must have legal access to and control of the real estate at which their businesses will be operated. This means that many applicants are hit with mounting monthly lease payments which can’t be deducted as a business expense, especially considering that marijuana use is still prohibited on a federal level, he said.

“It’s a costly proposition for Black license applicants to wait indefinitely while the CRC drags its feet in awarding licenses,” Harmon said.

“In his second inaugural address, Gov. Phil Murphy touted the creation of the cannabis industry in the name of social justice,” Harmon said. “The clock is ticking, and social justice remains denied to Black entrepreneurs.”

“The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey is tired of watching and waiting,” Harmon concluded. “We urge Gov. Murphy to exert his influence to speed up the licensing process and award licenses to Black entrepreneurs in the name of social justice.”

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., who represents New Jersey’s 10th District, including West Orange, backed up the chamber in a recent statement.

“I am outraged to hear that Black-owned businesses have been shut out of the state’s cannabis marketplace,” the congressman wrote.

It’s especially egregious considering that Black marijuana users are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white marijuana users – even though overall use for both groups is almost the same, Payne continued.

“New Jersey has a chance to correct this inequality and allow people abused by the system to finally benefit from it with a fair distribution of cannabis business licenses,” he said. “Instead, we are seeing the same inequality with these licenses that we see in marijuana arrests.”

“Governor Phil Murphy promised that the state’s cannabis industry would right the wrongs of the past as it concerns social justice,” Payne said. “Now, New Jersey needs to uphold this promise. I join the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey in their outrage that this inequality continues to plague our state, our society and our country.”

NJ COMMISSION: WE HAVEN’T GIVEN ANY LICENSES YET

The CRC has since disputed the accuracy of the statements from the chamber and Rep. Payne.

According to Toni-Anne Blake, a spokesperson with the commission, it hasn’t awarded any recreational licenses since it began taking applications from cannabis cultivators, manufacturers and testing labs in December 2021.

As of Monday, the state has received 358 recreational license applications. A breakdown by race wasn’t immediately available.

Applications for class 5 retail licenses will be accepted beginning on March 15.

“I don’t know if they are confusing the recreational licensing process with old 2018 and 2019 statutorily mandated RFAs for medicinal cannabis that were being administered under the New Jersey Department of Health,” Blake told Patch.

“Even so, we have not released any information about the 2019 applicants, so we don’t know where that information would be coming from, and it would be false that none of the awardees identify as Black-owned businesses,” she told Patch.

Under the CRC’s rules, social equity businesses, diversely-owned businesses, microbusinesses, and conditional license applicants will be prioritized in their review and scoring. These include businesses owned by people with past cannabis convictions, those from designated “economically disadvantaged areas, and minority-owned, woman-owned and disabled-veteran owned businesses.

Alyana Alfaro Post, a spokesperson with the New Jersey Governor’s Office, also disputed the claims that the state hasn’t licensed any Black-owned cannabis business owners.

According to data provided by the CRC on the medical cannabis license awardees, half of the recent awardees – 22 out of 44 – are either certified minority- or minority-women-owned enterprises, or are seeking minority- or minority women-owned certifications with the Department of the Treasury, Post said.

“Upon initial review, this includes self-identified Black-owned or -operated businesses,” Post told Patch.

Neither Post or Blake could tell Patch how many of the awardees specifically identified as Black-owned, as opposed to being solely women-owned. However, Post had this to say when asked about the numbers:

“As part of the post-award process, the CRC is currently verifying the validity of the information and certifications provided in the two-and-a-half-year-old applications of all medical cannabis permit awardees. Discovery of false or misleading information, or an awardee’s failure to comply with CRC restrictions, may result in the award being rescinded and reissued to another qualified applicant.”

THE WAITING GAME

The lack of representation in the marijuana industry isn’t unique to New Jersey, reports suggest.

Nationwide, Black people make up 14 percent of the U.S. population, yet only 2 percent of America’s estimated 30,000 cannabis companies are Black-owned, according to a 2021 report from cannabis information website Leafly.

The $18.3 billion dollar industry now supports 321,000 full-time American jobs, researchers said.

Dishmen and Penn are two of the entrepreneurs who are trying to turn that ignominious number around in New Jersey.

The pair previously told Patch that they’re seeking to obtain a retail marijuana dispensary license or micro-license and launch the state’s first Black-owned recreational cannabis retail shop in West Orange.

If The Library eventually earns one of the state’s coveted licenses, the company will be a good neighbor to the township, according to Dishmen, who says it will operate on four principles: “community, education, equality and equity.”

That mission hasn’t changed, Dishmen and Penn said Friday.

The Library is ready to submit its application for a retail license as soon as the commission starts accepting them on March 15. From that date, it will be a 90-day wait to hear back from the CRC, which says that social equity businesses, diversely-owned businesses, “impact zone” businesses, and applications that receive bonus points will be given priority review, scoring and approval.

And in the meanwhile, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

For starters, Dishmen and Penn still need to apply for approval on the municipal level as soon as applications open in West Orange. So far, they’ve been included in the West Orange Cannabis Task Force meetings – a good sign, they say.

The Library is also focusing on securing property, building its brand, forging industry relationships and planning events to benefit the local community. So far, they’ve hosted an expungement clinic to help people strike marijuana offenses from their records, and fed more than 150 families with a Thanksgiving food drive last year. Upcoming expungement clinics and career fairs are scheduled to take place on Feb. 27 in Rahway and Asbury Park (learn more here).

When asked to comment on the recent statements from the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and Rep. Payne, here’s what Dishmen and Penn had to say.

COREY DISHMEN: ‘CHANGE THE NARRATIVE’

“First, let me say that Congressman Payne’s father and my grandparents were friends. I respect Congressman Payne’s opinion and have a lot of reverence for the Payne family in general.

“Proportionally speaking though, I don’t know how many Black or Brown applicants applied vs non-Black or Brown applicants, nor do I know why they were denied. On the flip side, I do know at least one person of color that does have equity in one of the companies that was awarded a license, but he is not a majority owner.

“However, let me be clear that I have seen the numbers on a national level and have spoken with execs from all over the country that can confirm black executives/owners are few and far between in this industry. Therefore, if only 4% of executives and owners are people of color, it does make me question why the numbers are that low.

“Yet on a personal level, I am not concerned about the narrative’s impact on us. I am confident that we will be amongst the first few (if not the first) people of color to be awarded a retail license, and at that point will act as an exemplar for years to come. My train of thought is a lot different in many aspects than a lot of my peers when it pertains to matters like this. I can’t ignore the obvious but I won’t give it any energy with regard to my own personal situation. In my personal experiences, I have been welcomed into this industry thus far by people of all colors. I don’t focus on race. I focus on our plans and executing them … that’s it.

“Once we are licensed, we want to help others accomplish the same feat so that instead of focusing on the negative, we are combating it head-on in order to change the narrative and help diversify the industry.”

CHARLES PENN: ‘WE ARE LIKE WATER’

“I can completely understand the statement from Congressman Payne. Especially when looking at the biased history of marijuana and people of color.

“That being said, just as with Corey, I don’t have enough information about the demographics of the applicants or the criteria of the application to say that there was a definite bias based on skin color. Social equity wasn’t a thing for the 11 years that the medicinal market has been open in NJ which would make it harder for anyone trying to get into the industry. Especially those without access to the resources that big business has. Now that the focus is primarily on leveling the playing field we as NJ residents have the ability to really assess its failure or success. No matter what, Corey and I view everything through the lens of self-determination. We are like water; we always find the path of least resistance. The one thing that I can definitely say is that, for us, the industry has been one million percent supportive of people of color making their way successfully into the industry. Canna-culture has always been and will always be one hundred percent inclusive of everyone.”

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