Laws passed in the last year legalizing cannabis in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut were designed in part to remedy wrongs within a criminal justice system that disproportionately ensnares Black and Latino people.
And acquiring generational wealth is only part of the motivation for Ms. White and her family as they begin the slow and thorny process of establishing a business from scratch in a brand-new market.
A successful retail shop would also be a way to write a new ending to a familiar war-on-drugs story: Black men like Ms. White’s son, who was charged with low-level drug possession as a teenager, are among the groups that have been given an edge in the selection process.
New Jersey also grants priority consideration to businesses run by members of other minority groups, women and disabled veterans, as well as residents from poor regions of the state and those hoping to operate with no more than 10 employees. With this comes an opportunity for families like the Whites to play a part in achieving the ambitious social justice and equity goals that lawmakers have tied to legalization.
Before New Jersey legalized marijuana, Black residents were more than three times as likely as white residents to be charged with possessing the drug, despite similar rates of usage. Prisons in the state are considered the nation’s most racially unbalanced, jailing Black residents at nearly 13 times the rate of white residents.