Broken promises: How marijuana legalization failed communities hit hardest by the drug war

In the long and contentious fight for marijuana legalization, lawmakers across the country won over skeptical colleagues by promising social justice: The economic benefits of cannabis sales would be targeted at communities marred by decades of racist drug enforcement policies.

New York’s plan would be “transformative” for afflicted communities, said Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes of the state assembly.

Los Angeles, California, would “level the playing field” for the downtrodden, vowed Councilmember Curren Price.

Illinois would “right the wrongs of the past,” proclaimed state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth.

The result, almost a decade since the start of the legalization movement, has been a series of increasingly elaborate programs designed to ensure that the spoils of legal marijuana sales — which are projected to hit $35 billion this year, and double again by 2030 — would benefit the communities hardest hit by the war on drugs.

But 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.

The reasons for those failures vary from state to state, but some of the key factors behind the blunders of state equity programs were lack of funding, shoddy implementation, legal fights and struggles to access banking services. Many frustrated minority entrepreneurs say they’ve emptied their bank accounts to take advantage of what were touted as extraordinary economic opportunities only to find their plans derailed by the botched enactment of poorly designed policies.

No comprehensive nationwide numbers are available about the racial, ethnic and gender makeup of business owners operating in