Aug 24th–Aug 30th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times State Licensed Dispensaries & Doctor Cer tifications 33 Burden and Blessing How Alicia Deals became the first Black woman in Arizona to own a dispensary. BY O’HARA SHIPE W eed enthusiasts lined the streets on June 24 as legendary cannabis brand Cookies opened its first dispensary in Arizona. Hundreds of people were hoping to meet its charismatic founder, Berner, and get a hit of Girl Scout Cookies, the flower that helped build the brand. Amid the party atmosphere and thumping hip-hop beats, Alicia Deals sat in quiet reflection. With the Tempe store, she became the first African American woman to own a dispensary in Arizona. The event was more than a grand opening, though. It was a redemption story. Thirteen years earlier, on Jan. 13, 2010, Deals’ father, Robert Deals, was arrested for aggravated assault, unlawful flight and marijuana possession, according to court documents. Deals’ father struck a Chandler police officer with his car while fleeing the scene of a marijuana bust involving himself and two other individ- uals. The officer suffered injuries to her left side that kept her on restricted duty for six months, court records showed. Deals’ father, sentenced in 2012, is now serving his 12th year of an 18-year sentence in the state prison in Yuma. The case against him, Deals said, has been mishan- dled by prosecutors. “When it all boils down to it he had some cannabis and ran,” Deals told Phoenix New Times. “As a veteran with PTSD, in his haste and fear, he mistakenly struck an officer’s hand with the side visor mirror with effects reported by a doctor as ‘slight bruising.’ Nothing in reasonability to constitute six months of recovery nor aggravated assault. This and many other prosecution contradictions show the harsh mishandling of his case.” But she wasn’t content to let cannabis be the thing that tore her family apart. “You know, cannabis has been our family’s biggest burden,” Deals said. She was determined to turn it into what she calls “a blessing.” Making it right In 2021, Deals and her family scraped together the exorbitant legal and licensing fees to apply for one of 26 available social equity licenses. The licenses were a provision of 2020’s Proposition 207, which made recreational cannabis legal in Arizona. To be eligible to apply, Deals had to prove that she was directly affected by the war on drugs by demonstrating the socio- economic impact her father’s arrest had on her family. That was the easy part. “Cannabis companies make money, but we go to jail. They’re out here making millions of dollars, and my father is still in jail,” Deals said. Although Deals easily met the require- ments to obtain a social equity license, there was no guarantee Alicia Deals inked a licensing and branding partnership with Cookies to open its first dispensary in Arizona. (Photo courtesy Alicia Deals) | CANNABIS | >> p 36
