Anyone with experience in the legal cannabis industry will tell you that, given the steep regulatory costs, it typically takes north of $1 million to open a marijuana business in California.
And with cannabis still illegal under federal law, it’s also notoriously hard for industry entrepreneurs — and particularly entrepreneurs of color — to borrow money to cover those startup costs.
Those two factors are behind another often-quoted industry statistic: an estimated 81% of marijuana business owners are white.