Marijuana Licensing

If libertarians were in charge of legalizing marijuana, their first instinct would be to reach for an eraser.

That is, libertarians would simply eliminate existing laws that outlaw marijuana, rather than “design” the marijuana market by establishing a licensing board, capping the number of legal marijuana retailers, and the like.

Actual state marijuana legalizations, however, have generally capped the number of retail establishments and put a government board in charge of doling out the lucrative licenses to run them.

Predictably, this means that well-connected, white entrepreneurs benefit at the expense of African-Americans: 

Darryl Hill, hailed for integrating college football in his youth half a century ago, was a successful entrepreneur with no criminal record and plenty of capital when he applied for a license to grow marijuana in Maryland — a perfect candidate, or so he thought, to enter a wide-open industry that was supposed to take racial diversity into account.

To his dismay, Hill was shut out on his first attempt. So were at least a dozen other African American applicants for Maryland licenses. They were not told why.

The good news is that, in this instance, Hill seems to have circumvented the apparent bias:

… the 73-year-old great-grandfather who was the first black football player at the University of Maryland sought an ally in his quest to help other minorities — and himself — break into the closed ranks of cannabis cultivation and sales.

Hill’s new business partner, Rhett Jordan, happens to be a groundbreaker in his own right. The 33-year-old Colorado industry pioneer, who is white, founded one of the largest legal marijuana operations in the nation.

But Hill’s success should not obscure licensing’s harm: restricted supply, higher prices, and crony capitalism.