Boston’s first retail pot shop and Massachusetts’ first minority-owned marijuana business was approved Thursday, more than a year after the first shops opened elsewhere in the state, reports the Associated Press. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday voted to give final license approval to Pure Oasis, a pot shop proposed by two local Black entrepreneurs.
The approval comes more than three years after voters approved the nation’s first marijuana law aimed at encouraging Black, Latinos and other people harmed by the war on drugs to participate in the new industry. Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman called the vote “an important milestone” and wished the company luck.
Kobie Evans, a co-owner of Pure Oasis, said the shop hopes to open its doors in about a month in the city’s diverse Dorchester neighborhood. “It’s been a long, challenging journey, but it’s all been worth it,” he said after the vote.
“We’re excited to be where we are right now, but we’d also like to see more opportunities for people like us so that it’s not such a challenging road for people that come after us.” Black and Latino groups have voiced their frustration for months at the slow pace of approvals for minority-owned businesses, both in Massachusetts and nationwide. Pure Oasis joins 118 marijuana companies that have earned a final state license following Thursday’s meeting, which included votes on dozens of other applicants.
More than 300 others have also secured conditional approvals, but only 11 of those are companies like Pure Oasis that have been certified under the state’s equity programs for minority and disadvantaged marijuana businesses, according to the commission. Marijuana activists in Massachusetts and elsewhere have also voiced concern about the low number of minorities working in the industry at large. Nearly 75 percent of Massachusetts’ marijuana workforce is White, while Black and Latino people represent less than 12 percent, according to statistics released Thursday by the commission.
