Progressives justify all of their schemes by claiming a proposed policy or law will promote social justice and benefit minority populations. And yet their schemes virtually always fail to live up to progressive promises. Indeed, the schemes often leave minority populations worse off.
One of the more recent examples: State legalization of marijuana would create economic opportunities and be a financial boon for minorities, especially for those in low-income areas often riddled with drug and alcohol abuse.
Lots of states took the bait. Politicians passed legislation, to much public fanfare, legalizing marijuana and even setting up programs to help minorities—called “social equity entrepreneurs”—navigate the license-to-sell approval process. So, how’s that working out?
Politico recently released a long story based on an extensive review of state efforts. Let’s just say the results of this progressive scheme have been less than optimal. “[A] Politico investigation found that those efforts have failed to deliver the promised economic justice, while overwhelmingly white and wealthy investors seek to benefit from the cannabis boom.”
Politico highlights several of the reasons for the failure. Since the federal government still considers marijuana an illegal substance, banks won’t loan money to open a marijuana shop. So, finding funding has been a challenge.
Many states set up a complicated regulatory process for opening a cannabis business, but didn’t provide the help needed to navigate the system. Many also provided little or no funding for their programs, in part because states viewed their marijuana legalization efforts, not as a cost to the state, but as a tax windfall.
And then there’s competition, not so much with other legitimate cannabis businesses, but with unlicensed sellers. Politico reports, “Industry officials estimate that unlicensed shops now account for more than 80 percent of cannabis sales in Los Angeles, roughly five years after California launched its recreational market.” That’s just a little higher than the estimated 75 percent for the illicit market nationally.
Unlicensed vendors can sell for less because they don’t have to pay the fees, comply with the regulations, or collect the taxes for the city and state.
Even with all those challenges, many minorities pulled their savings, or borrowed from friends and family, and tried to make a go of it. Yet Politico quotes University of California, Davis, economist Daniel Sumner, who has written a book on the marijuana legalization effort, “Take all the money you can scrape together, we’ll help you [and] you’re almost surely to lose everything.”
While Sumner’s statement was focused on the cannabis social equity scheme, it could be applied to almost every progressive policy proposal.
January 2, 2024