California Uses Marijuana Tax Revenue To Fund Programs To Repair Drug War’s Harms

California announced on Thursday that it is awarding about $29 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue to 58 nonprofit organizations, with the intent of righting the wrongs of the war on drugs.

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) is issuing the funds, which will be provided through the California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) program.

“These grants serve communities disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs,” the notice states. “Harsh federal and state drug policies enacted during that period led to the mass incarceration of people of color, decreased access to social services, loss of educational attainment due to diminished federal financial aid eligibility, prohibitions on the use of public housing and other public assistance, and the separation of families.”

Today @CAGoBiz announced 58 grants totaling $29.1M awarded to community-based nonprofit orgs across #California.

“These grants will help advance health, wellness, & economic justice for populations & communities harmed by the War on Drugs.” @deemyers

🔗https://t.co/nTXMhjTfJXpic.twitter.com/gAkKiYkyHW

— GO-Biz (@CAGoBiz) June 10, 2021

Grants are being awarded to qualifying nonprofits to support programs aimed at providing job placement, mental health treatment, substance misuse treatment and legal services for disproportionately impacted communities.

“The California Community Reinvestments Grants program is a resource to help communities overcome the presence of systemic restrictions and barriers to opportunity and equity,” Dee Myers, director of GO-Biz, said in a press release. “These grants will help advance health, wellness, and economic justice for populations and communities harmed by the War on Drugs.”

California official announced late last year that grant applications were being made available to promote public health and economic justice for communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

Illinois is similarly using marijuana tax revenue to fund programs to repair the harms of the war on drugs. The state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program awarded $31.5 million in cannabis-backed grants in January.

Meanwhile, cannabis tax dollars in Oregon are also helping to increase access to substance misuse treatment and harm reduction programs following voter approval of a broad decriminalization measure.

The Oregon Health Authority received $1.7 million in finding to support the administrative costs of implementing Measure 110. Tribal groups are getting $2.9 million. Addiction recovery and harm reduction programs that are already contracted with the state will receive $6.4 million in grant extensions. And $8.9 million will fund “proposals that most closely aligned with the priorities and values” of the decriminalization campaign.

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State Marijuana Regulators Outline Policy Priorities As Congress Pursues Legalization

A coalition of state marijuana regulators sent a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday, outlining cannabis policy priorities and offering assistance as lawmakers consider a number of reform proposals that are set to advance this session.

The Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) had made clear that it isn’t necessarily taking a position in favor of or against legalization, but it said in the letter that it stands by to “provide policy makers and regulatory agencies with the resources to make informed decisions when considering approaches to cannabis regulation.”

Big day for CANNRA!

We are pleased to officially welcome #California as our newest member.

And, read our letter to Congress highlighting key #cannabis issues that impact state and federal cannabis priorities.https://t.co/oRr5NgNNZB

— Cannabis Regulators Association (@CannRegulators) February 18, 2021

To that end, the group wanted to articulate “important areas of cannabis policy we believe warrant additional consideration from federal officials.”

That includes issues related to protecting states that have legalized marijuana in some form, providing banking access to state-legal cannabis businesses, promoting research into marijuana, ensuring social and economic equity in legal markets and supporting public health initiatives.

For example, CANNRA said Congress should consider reinstituting Obama-era Justice Department guidance that generally called for prosecutors to avoid interfering with the implementation of state marijuana laws. Or lawmakers could look to protections included as part of appropriations legislations that broadly protects state cannabis programs.

The letter further states that marijuana banking protections would make “the entire cannabis industry more accessible, more transparent, and safer.”

CANNRA added that ensuring quality control standards for marijuana products “should be aligned as much as possible across jurisdictions to effectively protect consumers,” as should laboratory testing requirements.

“The purpose of this letter is to introduce our association as a resource, so that interested members of Congress may benefit from the regulatory and implementation experiences of our members and the states they represent, and to provide a regulatory perspective on federal cannabis legislation,” it said.

“CANNRA commends the 117th Congress for the many pieces of cannabis legislation members have sponsored and their willingness to address much needed action to modernize federal cannabis policy. Many of these reforms would significantly aid jurisdictions that choose to legalize and responsibly regulate approved forms of cannabis. CANNRA supports changes to federal law that would strengthen oversight and increase regulatory certainty.”

Regulators from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Washington, D.C. are part of the association. Most recently, California joined as well.

“CANNRA was established to be a forum for regulators across the country to share their experiences and best practices,” Tamara Colson, acting head of the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control, which is the latest state body to join CANNRA, said in a press release. “I look forward to this opportunity to further California’s collaboration with regulators from across the country.”

UPDATE: California has joined the Cannabis Regulators Association, created to provide policymakers with unbiased information to help them make informed decisions when considering whether to legalize and regulate cannabis. For more info, please visit https://t.co/UVq6JM1FAZ. pic.twitter.com/2sKwVG0jec

— BCC Info (@BCCinfo_dca) February 18, 2021

CANNRA, which was established late last year, said in December that it would be creating 15 special committees that will be tasked with collecting information and creating policy recommendations on a variety of issues related to marijuana.

The regulators’ letter comes in the backdrop of a concerted effort to advance federal cannabis legalization in 2021.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) released a joint statement announcing a plan to legalize earlier this month that decried the failures of marijuana criminalization and called for a federal policy change that prioritizes repairing the harms of prohibition.

They then held a meeting with marijuana stakeholders as one of the first formal step toward crafting a new reform bill.

Read the letter from CANNRA on congressional marijuana reform below: 

CANNRA letter to Congress by Marijuana Moment

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