Corey Barnette was the only manager at his San Diego medical cannabis dispensary in 2009 when a mother entered the store with her small child.
He took them back into his office where she pulled out 15 bottles of pills used to medicate the 10-year-old’s severe autism.
Her son was suffering – he couldn’t eat or gain weight – and his mother needed Barnette’s help for an alternative solution. He began working on cannabis-infused snickerdoodle cookies to medicate the child, which increased his appetite over time and got him off about half of the medicines that he was on.
“I don’t tend to get emotionally moved with sentiment,” said Barnette. “But that’s one of those moments where I recognized that this was an opportunity for us to do good.”
Barnette now operates KINFOLK Dispensary in NW Washington, D.C. He has been witness to the explosion of the medical cannabis industry in the district as owner and operator of one of the district’s seven medical cannabis dispensaries.
Like most dispensaries in the district, KINFOLK is proudly minority-owned and is about to merge into a new, freer and recreational cannabis industry.
Councilmembers introduced the Comprehensive Cannabis Legislation and Regulation Act of 2021 on March 1, which creates a recreational cannabis market and establishes steps to ensure the new market remains inclusive to communities hit hardest by the War on Drugs.
Though medical cannabis licenses have been legal in Washington, D.C. since 2010, the bill, if passed, would create a comprehensive regulatory framework for the cultivation, production and sale of recreational cannabis, according to a press release from the office of D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
“The starting point for this particular bill just surprised me,” stated Doni Crawford, a policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. “I expected to have to fight more going forward.”
The bill establishes a social equity program and mandates that half of all cannabis licenses are set aside for social equity applicants. According to its text, this includes residents who have been convicted of cannabis-related offenses or have lived in areas with high rates of poverty,unemployment and arrests. It will also automatically expunge cannabis-related arrests and convictions.
“I’m an advocate for inclusiveness with an emphasis on granting licenses to those who have been most affected by the War on Drugs in the country,” said Anacostia Organics owner Linda Mercado Greene in an email interview. “Which means black and brown folk.”
For a year after the bill’s passing, recreational licenses will only be granted to social equity applicants and owners of the preexisting medical marijuana dispensaries. Owners of the current seven dispensaries have the unique opportunity to be a part of the old industry and the emerging recreational market. Many of these owners do not fear the increase in cannabis competition in the district, but welcome it.
“Things are changing,” said Stephanie Reifkind Kahn, president of Takoma Wellness Center, another dispensary in the district. “So we have just learned to zig and zag when needed and deal with change as a definite inevitability – as it is in life.”
Corey Barnette, who is also an outspoken supporter of the bill, applauded how this bill is a significant step toward restoring some of the harm done to black and brown communities from the War on Drugs.
In particular, he noted that the Chairman’s bill requires 60 percent of employment and ownership in dispensaries are district residents and half of the tax revenue goes toward restorative means into communities of color.
“As a first pass legislation, I think it’s one of the strongest opportunities I’ve ever seen. I think it’s gone much further than a lot of other states have proven willing to go,” stated Barnette.
As a business owner who has always viewed the medical cannabis industry as an opportunity for economic and community growth, Barnette said he believes the recreational cannabis market will benefit new areas of the city, expand access to the benefits of cannabis and provide minority entrepreneurs access to a prosperous industry.
“I think that the Council has seen fit, and loves the idea that, here in our nation’s capital we actually respect diversity – we value diversity,” he said. “They took the time to think about: How do we make sure that we have an industry that is actually benefiting district residents?”
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