Missouri cannabis leader accused of using predatory contracts [Video]

MISSOURI, USA — When John Payne was leading the campaign to legalize recreational cannabis in 2022, he faced a major hurdle.

Black business owners were largely excluded from the medical marijuana program when licenses to grow and sell cannabis were doled out by the state in 2019, and many feared history was about to repeat itself. 

So to soothe the concerns and win over skeptics, Payne partnered with Black community leaders to come up with what they hoped was a solution — a social equity program, known as “microbusiness licenses,” that would diversify the industry and ensure communities most impacted by the War on Drugs were not once again left out of the burgeoning industry.

“We do know from data that the people who have been harmed by marijuana prohibition directly, Black Americans are overrepresented,” Payne, who is white, told The Independent last year…