The state of Arizona has started to accept applications for 26 lucrative marijuana shop licenses for “social equity.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has started accepting these applications despite lawsuits seeking to stop the program and make it more inclusive.
The new licenses will give 26 individuals licenses to run lucrative marijuana shops, and are given in an effort to help people harmed by previous marijuana laws before the drug was legalized for recreational use in 2020.
The program run by ADHS is facing backlash from people who don’t think the rules are fair to everyone who should have a chance to apply for them.
People who want to apply for the program have until Dec. 14th to submit the required paperwork. Those applicants are required to have begun a mandatory business training from ADHS.
About 2,700 people completed the required business training from ADHS for applicants, according to the agency. Applicants were to have finished the ADHS training by Nov. 24.
Once ADHS gets all of the applications in December, it intends to review them for completeness, give applicants a chance to fix any problems, and eventually put all the qualified applicants in a lottery and draw 26 winners.
“That clearly will not happen in December. I’m almost certain it will not happen in January. Some time in February is likely. We won’t know until we know how many applications are received,” said Gregory Falls, an attorney representing ADHS.
