Social equity is coming to the world of recreational marijuana. The idea is to ensure that communities that have been most strongly impacted by the criminalization of cannabis have the opportunity to be involved in the legal marijuana trade.

A big part of the program is a reduced fee structure on application fees and license fees. The Governor’s senior advisor on cannabis control Toi Hutchinson says as the marijuana industry has grown over the past few years she’s glad that finally the people who were hurt most by the criminal

The social equity applications open today and close in January. There is another round of applications expected later in 2020.