Sacramento program will help minority cannabis business owners

Minorities will soon have better access to start a cannabis business in California’s state capital.

The Sacramento City Council on Thursday unanimously approved the Cannabis Opportunity Reinvestment and Equity (CORE) program, reports the Sacramento Bee.

According to council members, the CORE program will allow minorities to open legal cannabis businesses without having to pay steep permit fees, while also supporting entrepreneurs by guiding them through the permitting process.

Those eligible for the program include people arrested for nonviolent marijuana crimes between 1980 and 2011, people with an immediate family member who was arrested, and residents of ZIP codes where a disproportionate amount of arrests have occurred.

“This CORE program is going to help those who were disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs,” said Malaki Seku-Amen of the California Urban Partnership, in an interview with the Bee. ”It will help us who suffered generational poverty to benefit from the region’s $4 billion industry in cannabis.”

Sacramento’s effort to help minorities affected by the War on Drugs comes while Los Angeles…

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