(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Life Changers Investments.)
By Kiera Riley | Phoenix New Times
If Alicia Deals, one of the 26 social equity license holders, can’t secure a properly-zoned building for her cannabis company and apply for approval to operate within 18 months, the Arizona Department of Health Services will revoke her license.
But many cities in Arizona, including the most centrally located and lucrative, only allow dual-licensed dispensaries to operate. Social equity licenses only cover recreational sales.
A bill that would have solved zoning woes for social equity license holders by awarding dual licenses failed in the Arizona House of Representatives on June 23. That happened after seeing opposition from the Arizona Dispensaries Association as well as from United Food and Commercial Workers and the League of Arizona Cities and Towns.
House Bill 2050 was never explicitly a social equity bill, but its demise gave way to frustration among social equity license holders and industry lobbyists who claim the ADA and its members had anticompetitive motives.