According to this Washington Post article, black Maryland state legislators are “planning to propose emergency legislation to address the dearth of minority-owned businesses approved to grow medical marijuana in the state.”
There’s a federal constitutional problem here, though: A predicate for racial preferences in government contracting is a demonstration that there has historically been discrimination in the industry involved. Medical marijuana was legalized in Maryland only a couple of years ago, so one wonders how much discrimination there has been, historically, in a industry that does not yet actually exist.
But never mind all that. “This is a good modern-day civil rights fight,” says Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D., Baltimore) of the Legislative Black Caucus. Well, maybe not “good,” but certainly typical.