When crack cocaine first spread through the streets of impoverished inner-city neighborhoods in the early 1980s, its increased availability fueled the fear of a “crack epidemic.” By 1986, then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden co-crafted and co-sponsored the bipartisan Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which authorized new funding for drug treatment programs and stricter penalties for drug offenses. It cleared both chambers of Congress with overwhelming majorities.

After Ronald Reagan signed it into law, an overlooked provision came to light, which infamously became known as the 100-to-1 disparity. The law required the same five-year-minimum prison term for crimes involving 5 grams of crack as for those involving 500 grams of powder cocaine. Cheaper than cocaine, crack became the drug of choice for poor people, including many African Americans, and the law came to be viewed as one of the most racially slanted sentencing policies in the U.S.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the average federal drug sentence for Black people was 11% higher than for whites before the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Four years later, the average federal drug sentence for Black people was 49% higher.

Thirty-five years later, people of color are still being targeted in the war on drugs. Between 2010 and 2018, Black people were 3 1/2 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people in New Jersey, Cannabis Business Times contributor Raj Chander wrote earlier this week, following Gov. Phil Murphy’s signing of adult-use legislation. Chander highlighted varying stakeholders’ push for social equity.

But New Jersey is not alone. As more and more state lawmakers debate and consider adult-use cannabis legalization, more and more proposals come up to complement those efforts with social equity measures. Virginia included a social equity program in a bill the state legislature passed Feb. 26. Pennsylvania focused on social equity in a bipartisan sponsored Senate bill introduced Feb. 24. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a 30-day amendments plan that detailed how $100 million in social equity funding would be allocated. The list goes on.

In established markets, some cities and states are revisiting social equity. Denver may give the greenlight to new social equity business licenses in a proposal that would see the city accepting applications for cultivation, manufacturing and retail cannabis businesses for the first time since 2016, Digital Editor Eric Sandy wrote.

And reform isn’t just about social equity; it’s also about inclusion. In a Q&A featuring Amber Littlejohn, a senior policy adviser for the Minority Cannabis Business Association, Hemp Grower Managing Editor Patrick Williams wrote about the importance of strengthening small businesses and businesses owned by people of color—and how it can be done.

Social equity may be a ticket for cannabis legalization, but it’s a ticket that’s long overdue.

-Tony Lange, Associate Editor