Payne’s comments come after the African American Chamber of Commerce said that Black entrepreneurs had been excluded from New Jersey’s cannabis business.
“Many Black-owned businesses have been trying to get into the cannabis industry since 2012 when cannabis for medicinal purposes became legal in New Jersey,” AACCNJ President and CEO John Harmon, Jr. said in his owned statement.
“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. It’s a costly proposition for Black license applicants to wait indefinitely while the CRC drags its feet in awarding licenses.”