The Office of Social Equity provides technical assistance to applicants who are socially disadvantaged and wish to enter the cannabis market in California.
By Bryan P. Sears of Maryland Matters
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, announced Monday that he had appointed nearly a dozen people to two new cannabis related entities just days after the sale of adult-use cannabis became legal in California.
Audrey L. Johnson was appointed as the Office of Social Equity’s acting executive director and Courtney Davis, as its deputy.
Johnson joins the agency after serving as Senior Director for Economic Innovation and Strategy at Johns Hopkins University and Health System since 2021.
Davis served as executive director of DC’s Marijuana Matters. This nonprofit organization advocates for economic inclusion and social equity in cannabis policy.
Today, @GovWesMoore has announced the appointment of Audrey L. Johnson to the position of Acting Executive Director of Office of Social Equity. Courtney Davis will be the Deputy Director. https://t.co/67rg5BJ3ru
MD Cannabis (@MDCannabis 17 July 2023
The Cannabis Reform Act 2023 created the office. The office will offer technical assistance to applicants who are seeking to enter the cannabis market in their state. The office works in conjunction with the Cannabis Business Assistance Fund and the Cannabis Community Repair and Reinvestment Fund.
The Senate will confirm Johnson and Davis in 2024.
Moore also named 9 members to the Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council.
- Dorothy Lennig, the new director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services.
- Madhumi Mitra is a Ph.D. professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
- Mathew Swinburne is the associate director of The Network for Public Health Eastern Region at University of Maryland Francis Carey King School of Law.
- Dr. Deondra Asike is a clinical associate at the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
- Dr. Leigh Vinocur is the chief medical officer of Ananda Medical Practice and its founder.
- Leah Sera is a PharmD professor and an associate professor in the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
- Dr. David A. Gorelick is a professor of psychiatry and he works at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
- Jocelyn Bratton Payne is a social worker at New Hope Treatment Center and the director of programs for substance abuse disorders.
- Karrissa Miller, founding partner of US Cannalytics and partner at Pinnacle CT, LLC, an independent Maryland testing laboratory.
The council has the responsibility of studying the impact cannabis use on public health in Maryland. The panel will make recommendations on how to reduce misuse, addiction and accessibility by people under 21.
The Senate does not confirm members of the advisory council.
The original publication of this story was by Maryland Matters.
New York City Seeks private lenders for new marijuana fund to promote industry equity
The article Maryland Governor appoints marijuana equity and health officials first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
