Jacob Tyler Dunn Shell from p 14 was the establishment of a “social equity” ownership program. For the many civil rights groups that had lobbied for the legis- lation, the social equity program was a tacit promise that the riches of Arizona’s green rush would not all end up in the hands of a wealthy, largely white, industry elite. Prop. 207 proponents called the pro- gram a form of restitution for those com- munities bore the scars of Arizona’s decades-long war on drugs. The details of the program, though, were left to Arizona bureaucrats. Over the next year, Arizona’s Depart- ment of Health Services crafted the rules for the program. Leading the charge was Roopali Desai, a lawyer with Coppersmith Brockelman. She was a central figure in the effort to pass Prop. 207 and was described by those who know her as a dogged attor- ney. She and her firm quickly began work- ing on the social equity rules. Early drafts of the rules came under fire for being relatively sparse, at only 10 or so pages, and for having loose application re- quirements. “They put no thought into it,” Rodriguez, a principal at Acre 41 and one of the program’s earliest critics, told New Times in May. The final rules, which were ultimately released in November, laid out more de- tailed qualifications for applicants. Appli- cations had to meet three of these four requirements: • Having a prior marijuana conviction. • Having a spouse, a sibling, or a child with a prior marijuana conviction. • Earning an annual household income below 400 percent of the poverty level. For a single person, that’s around $52,500. • Living in a qualifying ZIP code. Applicants also had to sign a statement that “neither the principal officer nor board member nor the applicant has, directly or indirectly, entered or promised to enter into any agreements for a change in ‘ownership.’” In essence, they promised they had not agreed to sell the license off before it was awarded. Rodriguez and other advocates imme- diately had questions. Without any provision that required The Mint Dispensary on Priest Drive at Baseline Road: Mint Cannabis and Copperstate Farms are two local companies that have backed a number of social equity applicants. licenses to stay in the hands of social equity applicants, how would the state prevent them from quickly falling prey to a well- financed industry? How would under- resourced applicants navigate a byzantine application process? “We predicted everything that took place,” said Rodriguez, referring to canna- bis plutocrats sponsoring as many appli- cants as they could. As a Black woman in the industry, it was “disheartening” to watch it all play out, she added. From the beginning, she told Desai and the state about her concerns. But they were ignored, she said. Acre 41, together with the Urban League, a civil rights group, sued the state in a last-ditch effort to get the Department of Health to go back to the drawing board. Acre 41 alleged that the final rules of the program were so weak that they ultimately failed to live up to the requirements of the statute, which mandated the state establish a program to “promote ownership and operation” of dispensaries by people from the most-harmed communities But in early February, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed the case, clearing the way for Arizona to award the licenses. The court decided not to intervene in the program’s specifics. “Whether this was the best way to structure the program is not for the court to decide,” Judge Randall Warner wrote in his final opinion. The Arizona Department of Health Services had written rules that were “reasonable” under the statute, which left no room for a legal challenge, he found. Desai did not return New Times’ requests for comment on the rulemaking process. But in court this month, she em- phasized that the state had spent months coming up with the rules and considered concerns raised by Rodriguez and others. “What we’re doing in 30 minutes this morning has occurred at the department over many, many, many months,” she told the court during a hearing. “At the end of the day, the mandate to the department was to adopt rules to develop, to >> p 18 17 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES FEB 24TH– MARCH 2ND, 2022
