Please tell your legislators and Gov. Healey to oppose any effort to rush a major change in cannabis industry rules through at the end of session without even having a hearing!
A Conference Committee is currently negotiating differences between the House and Senate budgets right now, and YOUR legislators need to hear from you!
Use this form to ask your State Representative and State Senator to urge the Conference Committee to include EON’s funding in the FY25 budget.
Because you showed up and spoke out at our community regulatory review listening session, Cannabis Control Commissioners and staff showed up and listened. And they passed regulations that they — and you — should be proud of.
Now, it’s time to celebrate how far we’ve come! Please join me at EON’s Celebration of Equity Champions hosted by New Dia in Boston on Tuesday, December 19 at 6 PM.
EON is excited to share with that Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien, Executive Director Shawn Collins, and Commissioners Nurys Camargo, Ava Concepcion, Kimberly Roy, and Bruce Stebbins will join EON to listen in on our Virtual Community Regulatory Review Listening Session on Thursday, July 6 at 1 PM!
What policy changes would make Massachusetts’ cannabis industry more accessible to people from communities most harmed by the war on drugs?
Please take a few minutes right now to fill out our 2023-2024 Legislative Agenda Policy Survey and help shape the future of our advocacy for years to come.
Dear Friends, Equitable Opportunities Now! is a proudly Black- and woman-run nonprofit organization that’s been at the forefront of ensuring Black and Brown communities have a seat at the table in Massachusetts cannabis industry. Thanks to generous donors like you, EON has: Turned out hundreds of supporters to rallies and days of action in support […]
EON is compiling a “Binder Full of Cannabis Experts” that will offer appointing authorities like the Governor, Attorney General, & Treasurer a resource for a diverse range of experts on the cannabis industry and equity.
The Equity Advisory Board will consult with the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (“EOHED”) as EOHED administers the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund (the “Trust Fund”). A first of its kind, the Trust Fund was established to encourage the full participation in the state’s regulated marijuana industry of entrepreneurs from communities that have been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement (“ADI Communities”).
The Boston City Council amended its cannabis ordinance to add two seats to the Boston Cannabis Board:
- “One member with experience in urban planning or land use”
- “One member with experience in a leadership role within a neighborhood association in Boston”
Thanks to years of advocacy, there are now an unprecedented number of opportunities for local community members to have a say in how we implement laws as well as getting them passed.
Please take a look at the opportunities below and consider applying or urging your friends, family, and colleagues to do so.
It’s time to celebrate our victories, honor the amazing work of our allies and partners, and finally see each other in person again at EON’s Celebration of Cannabis Equity Champions Social Fundraiser on Tuesday, Oct. 25 from 6-8 p.m. at Black Market in Roxbury!
Social equity businesses, small operators, consumers, patients, and advocates are encouraged to speak out and help protect those most harmed by the war on drugs from large predatory businesses trying to take over the industry.
In response to the Cannabis Control Commission’s request for feedback on the delivery license exclusivity period for social equity businesses, Equitable Opportunities Now, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, members of EON’s Massachusetts Cannabis Equity Council, and other small business owners testified at the CCC’s Dec. 11 public listening session and submitted the letter below. […]
Following up on a previous call for an investigation into alleged license cap violations, EON and members of our Mass. Cannabis Equity Council sent the following letter urging the CCC to improve ownership data transparency & tip line and urge the Legislature to protect competition. Dear Acting Chair Stebbins and Commissioners Camargo, Concepcion, and Roy: […]
After months of ads, text messages, and fundraising emails, we’ve finally made it… Today is Election Day and your vote matters.
If you haven’t voted yet, please make a plan and figure out when you can get to the polls around work, picking up kids, and dinner.
Eight years after Massachusetts voters passed a ballot law legalizing the adult use of marijuana, state legislators are exploring whether there are ways to make the cannabis regulatory system work better for businesses, consumers and others involved in the industry.
Donahue asked several of the people and groups that were invited to testify Wednesday (the CCC was not invited to testify) whether they thought that the statutory structure of the CCC contributed to the issues they raised. He asked about how other state cannabis oversight agencies are structured and whether moving the CCC under an executive office might make sense.
That idea would be a non-starter for Kevin Gilnack, the policy co-chair for Equitable Opportunities Now, though he did agree that “recent events obviously have highlighted the need for some potential clarification and enhancements of the CCC’s authorizing statute.”
Massachusetts business owners, industry trade groups, and advocates ask lawmakers to reform the Cannabis Control Commission…
On Wednesday, Oct. 30, representatives from EON and our Massachusetts Cannabis Equity Council were invited to testify before the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy regarding governance and operational issues at the Cannabis Control Commission.
Check out remarks from EON Policy Co-Chair Kevin Gilnack, Zèb Boutique Owner Drudys Ledbetter, and Dris Brands Owner Chris Fevry in the hearing video and read our full letter to the Committee below.
After extensive outreach to the 17 social equity business owners of MCEC with provisional and/or final licenses, and dozens of other equity and general applicants and licensees, it is clear that this is an important, timely, and complex conversation.
We are writing to express concern that ongoing deliberations regarding changes to the third-party transporter and Independent Testing Lab (ITL) should not cause any further delay in advancing these critical and overdue changes for equity businesses, microbusinesses, and patients.