all right well today may be the unofficial holiday celebrated for anyone who enjoys marijuana but tomorrow that's the state's one-year anniversary of legalizing recreational weed and despite Promises of social justice within the industry there are still no recreational Cannabis businesses run by black or brown State residents Melissa Rose Cooper checks in with women at various stages of opening a cannabis business about the roadblocks they've faced as part of our ongoing Series Chasing the Dream focusing on Justice poverty and Economic Opportunity we're crushed we're gutted we were heartbroken we still are feelings of hurt and disappointment still fresh for precious Osage after finding out plans to make her business roll up life a legal dispensary in her hometown of East Orange would have to be put on hold we find our location which is extremely hard you know real real estate is one of the hardest barriers of Entry specifically for people of color we're able to raise a multi-million dollar deal to secure investment to build out our company and we were seeking the approval of our hometown to be able to move forward being that we found a really built building and we had the support of the community for what we thought would be you know a community Venture but sadly we were denied our Municipal application it's an issue Osage says many other black and brown own cannabis businesses are facing across the state last week she raised some of their concerns in front of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission there's been lobbying firms from the state democratic chairman where he was pushing for a company the those who actually won the license as a former councilwoman in Newark backed by a Maine political contributor campaign contributor throughout the city of East Orange so those were the type of entities we were going up against as a small business and we didn't think that we'd have to power broke politically to enter this space but essentially that's been the name of the game in order to just continue to stay motivated it's like you said it's just so much hard work on a daily basis Shayla Cabrera is the CEO and founder of Tia planter and one of the only women in the states with a license to grow marijuana she's currently in the process of securing a property but has been having trouble finding location in a municipality that allows recreational sales it is extremely discouraging um to know that not one um black or brown operator has crossed the finish line and entered the market yet in the state of New Jersey when we were promised so social Equity as we know the criminalization of the plant most heavily impacted in a negative way our community so therefore these opportunities should be going to people like myself but Suzanne Nicholson is hopeful more black and brown own cannabis businesses will start getting the green light she's the first black woman to open a medical dispensary in New Jersey Holistic Solutions in Camden County and last week the state awarded her a license to sell recreational Cannabis as well women of color are not normally represented in the Cannabis Market we are less than two percent as far as c-suite Leaders it is a breathtaking opportunity to demonstrate that this is possible and to be a model for other young women and women in the space to push forward to continue to Advocate to be the voice of change in the screening industry as for our Sagar essay she plans to fight back we ain't come this far just come this far we want to still make our our community not the 10 Council people who made that vote we still want to make our community proud some way somehow we still want to be a dominant factor in the delivery space in New Jersey we still want to show that there's opportunity for black and brown people in cannabis through entrepreneurship and if that means going to a different city then fine if that means standing up for ourselves here legally that's what we also plan to do never giving up hope that one day her dream of opening her own cannabis business will finally become a reality for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper major funding for Chasing the Dream is provided by the JPB foundation with additional funding from the Peter G Peterson and Joan Gantz Cooney fund