Check out this great profile of EON Co-Founder and Ardent CEO Shanel Lindsay in The Spokesman-Review…
In 2014, when medical marijuana was legalized in Massachusetts, Lindsay started her own law practice. In 2015 she started Ardent, and Equitable Opportunities Now, or EON, a non-profit that fights to preserve equity provisions in cannabis laws to create equal opportunities for businesses and those seeking cannabis licenses.
“We are dedicated to ensuring just representation for people of color within the cannabis industry,” Lindsay explained. “Our goal is to ensure equitable employment opportunities for Black and brown communities targeted by the war on drugs. We believe that to best address the lasting effects of Prohibition, we must facilitate access, and we support paths to economic empowerment for people with past marijuana convictions.”
A recent victory took place when the largest marijuana business association in Massachusetts – the Commonwealth Dispensary Association – dropped its lawsuit against the Cannabis Control Commission’s new delivery license regulations, which are exclusively limited to Economic Empowerment and Social Equity Program participants for the first three years. They represent the last opportunity for meaningful diverse ownership in the billion-dollar sector.
EON sees this as the beginning of efforts to hold industry players accountable for efforts to manipulate and stop equity initiatives through lawsuits.