Pritzker’s cannabis equity plan went up in smoke: Advocates [Video]

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An advocacy group has called out the Pritzker administration for falling far short of the mark when it comes to minority participation in Illinois’s growing cannabis industry, but a top state official said the picture is a lot brighter than critics say.

Richard St. Paul, with the National Black Empowerment Action Fund (NBEAF), said Gov. J.B. Pritzker promised 63,000 jobs would be generated by the legalization of recreational marijuana — mostly for people in communities that were hurt by the war on drugs. St Paul, though, said that promise wasn’t kept.

“You were supposed to be first in line to be able to get a license, whether it be [for a] dispensary or cultivation,” he said. “Of the 4,000 social equity licenses that were applied for, only 21 were granted.”

But Erin Johnson, Illinois’ cannabis regulation oversight officer, said there are 103 social equity licenses now, and she claimed that …