Initial funding comes from a $4 million transfer from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund, the sum of all tax revenue collected from cannabis sales. Future legislative sessions may choose to appropriate more money from the cash fund towards the office.
The new office will be headed by Tristan Watkins, who formerly worked as the Chief Science Officer of Boulder-based dispensary Lucidmood.
“The Cannabis Business Office will provide novel and ambitious programming to provide more equitable opportunity in the cannabis industry,” said Watkins. “As the office expands, we are confident it will further solidify Colorado as the leader in the nation’s cannabis industry.”
Since legalizing recreational use of cannabis in 2012, the state has taken steps to foster equity in the industry, but for Black and Latino populations — who have been disproportionately impacted by marijuana laws before legalization — progress is slow. A new state report found that Black and Latino populations are still arrested at a higher rate than white peers. The arrest rate for Black people remains more than double that of whites.
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