9 Leaves Mario Williams is leading the charge on Black ownership in the cannabis space. He firmly believes that the high barriers of entry for Black entrepreneurs in this market exclude equal access and is explicitly biased. 9 Leaves will continue to fight for access for all as well as erasing the stigma for clients and those looking to become stakeholders in the legal marijuana space.
“It’s an atrocity,” said Williams, whose office is in Atlanta. “Black people have had their lives and communities devastated by laws and judges handing down exorbitant prison time for a product that white officials have always known did not merit those many years people were sent away.
“And yet, now that they have made it legal, understanding the vast medical benefits to cannabis, they legalize it, but make it virtually impossible for the people they criminalized to be a part of the legal business side of it. An atrocity,”
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