New Social Equity Cannabis Licenses Coming Soon to Washington

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Recently announced, the state of Washington’s Social Equity Program will be opening a licensing period between June 2, 2025 to July 1, 2025. During this period, 52 new retail social equity licenses will be issued (1,2).

The Inlander reported that the Social Equity Program was (2) “Established by the Legislature in 2020, and updated in 2023, the program aims to address systemic flaws in the state's legal cannabis market in an effort to right historical wrongs.”

“We know that certain communities were disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs and are underrepresented in legal cannabis spaces, and so this program specifically seeks to award retail cannabis licenses to those who qualify for the program,” Samantha Guter, communications consultant with the Washington state Liquor and Cannabis Board, said in an interview with Inlander (2).

In 2023, 45 licenses were given out by officials but have since been revoked or forfeited (1,2). According to Ganjapreneur (1), “it will be the largest expansion of new licenses to the Washington cannabis industry since the state’s adult-use market launched over 10 years ago.”

Inlander mentioned that applicants will need to satisfy at least two of the program’s four licensing criteria (2):

1. Have lived in a specified area of Washington disproportionately impacted by previous drug policy for at least five years between 1980 and 2010.
2. Has been arrested or convicted, or is a family member of someone arrested for or convicted of a cannabis offense.
3. Have a household income below Washington's median household income.
4. Be classified as socially and economically disadvantaged as defined by the state in chapter 39.19 of the Revised Code of Washington.

Criteria for these new Social Equity Program licenses were picked to provide more opportunity to individuals in underrepresented communities (2).

In March 2025 (3), Washington cannabis regulators recalled more than 500 cannabis vape product batches manufactured by one of the largest cannabis processors in the state, Northwest Cannabis Solutions. The recall was issued due to concerns regarding residual solvent and pesticides. Cartridge and vape products were made from strains Super Boof, Wedding Crasher, and White Widow, and were purchasable at 129 retailers in Washington state (3).

State law (3,5) mandates that the company has 60 days to formulate a recall plan, as well as “naming a recall coordinator, identifying and isolating products to prevent or minimize distribution to consumers, developing procedures to retrieve and destroy affected products, and creating a communications plan to notify those affected by the recall,” (3).

References

1. Abbott, G. Washington to issue new social equity cannabis licenses this summer - ganjapreneur https://www.ganjapreneur.com/washington-to-issue-new-social-equity-cannabis-licenses-this-summer/ (accessed May 29, 2025).
2. Maupin, W. New Retail Cannabis licenses are coming to Washington in the name of Social Equity https://www.inlander.com/news/new-retail-cannabis-licenses-are-coming-to-washington-in-the-name-of-social-equity-29873007 (accessed May 29, 2025).
3. Branfalt, T. Washington State Issues Recall for over 500 cannabis product batches - ganjapreneur https://www.ganjapreneur.com/washington-state-recalls-more-than-500-cannabis-products/ (accessed May 29, 2025).
4. Notice of cannabis recalls https://lcb.wa.gov/examiners/recalls (accessed May 29, 2025).
5. https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=314-55-225 (accessed May 29, 2025).