A $29 Billion Weed Market Fights to Diversify

Cannabis activists rally in front of the Colorado state capitol in 2022. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
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Michael Diaz-Rivera’s experience simultaneously represents the promise and failure of social equity licenses for the cannabis industry.   

Diaz-Rivera’s conviction in 2006 for marijuana possession made him eligible when Colorado agreed in 2020 to set aside licenses for members of historically marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by drug laws.