There was no paywall. No big stage. And lunch was included.
A couple weeks ago I sat in a circle with about 30 people: producers, retailers, equity licensees, advocacy groups, ancillary service providers and a city council member. The Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) Leadership Circle is part of the Equity Workshop Tour across 27 states, now in its fourth year. Not a conference, but a real conversation, facilitated by MCBA Board Chairman and Interim President Mike Lomuto, co-convened locally by Carlondo Mitchell of 5th House Farms, Jessica Pichardo of Canna Luz and Lotta Brathwaite of The Bakersmen Collective, and sponsored by Salal Credit Union at their Seattle headquarters.
At WEiC, we’ve spent nearly a decade building community for women in cannabis and plant medicine. Everything that came up in that circle — the equity gaps, the tax burden, the payment disputes — our members are living it across the globe.
Before We Could Build, We Had to Name What’s Broken
The economics are rough. COVID-era expansion led to oversupply. Large operations are producing tens of thousands of pounds annually, more product than the regulated market can absorb, and premium genetics that used to retail for $30 are clearing shelves at $10. Producers are pricing down to cover debt. Retailers, who hold most of the leverage in this market, are navigating their own pressures.
The tax structure makes it worse. Washington levies a 37% excise tax on cannabis, the highest in the nation, and when you stack state and local sales taxes on top, the total consumer tax burden pushes past 47%. There are bills moving right now to change it — HB 2075 and HB 2433 would replace the flat rate with a weight- and potency-based system — but operators are living in the current reality today. A CPA in the room put it plainly: any business owner entering cannabis in Washington starts in the hole. Federal treatment under 280E compounds it. The industry is carrying debt, compliance costs from two separate agencies and a pricing environment it didn’t create.
COD payment disputes are a creeping problem too. The room flagged that Washington should get ahead of this now; California waited, and the damage has been significant.
The piece that hit hardest was the equity gap. Several attendees, including an equity licensee, described what the social equity program actually delivers: a piece of paper. Not a location. Not capital. Not business mentorship. The second round of social equity funding was quietly changed from upfront grants to a reimbursement model. For a first-time business owner who can’t front costs, that’s not equity.
“We’re giving people Willie Wonka tickets,” one attendee said, “without any access to the factory.”
Women and communities of color, the people this program was meant to serve, are the ones most impacted by that gap.
What Happened When the Room Decided to Stop Waiting
The Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) was invited. They declined. It was noted that Washington’s regulatory body is the most unresponsive across the legal cannabis states. The room’s response was clarifying, not defeated.
If the agency isn’t coming, you stop waiting and start building.
By the end of the afternoon, a steering committee was formed. Oscar Velasco-Schmitz of Dockside Cannabis and Sunny Saini of Khush Kush, along with Mitchell (and me!) stepped up. The goal: a biannual affinity group forum, free to attend, open across the full chain — producers, retailers, equity licensees and community organizations. Not a trade event. A room to “break bread” together.
Cherryl Jackson-Williams, president of the South King County Civil Rights Commission, was there too, not directly as an industry member but as someone whose community directly benefits from cannabis tax revenue through participatory budgeting. Her presence made explicit what the industry often misses: the consumers, neighbors and civil rights organizations surrounding cannabis have a stake in this. Bringing them in is part of how the industry builds real political power.
The session closed with one word or phrase from each person. Collective resilience. Connected. Audacity. Go!
What You Can Do Right Now, Wherever You Are
You don’t need a regulatory agency to start building the industry infrastructure. You need 20 or 30 people in a room, willing to be honest about what’s broken and serious about what comes next.
Here’s what the Seattle MCBA Leadership Circle decided is worth doing now:
Build the list. A community mailing list of consumers, patients, operators and advocates is how you mobilize people when something matters. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to exist. Start now. (If you’re in Washington State, scroll down to get on the list!)
Find your allied groups. Food truck operators, civil rights organizations, small business associations — they’re navigating the same regulatory pressures and have political access that cannabis alone often doesn’t. Coalition isn’t charity. It’s strategy.
Remove the paywall from your organizing. The rooms that move things forward are inherently inclusive. Make your organizing accessible.
Get ahead of the payment issues before they become systemic. Washington is watching what happened in California. Don’t wait for the pattern to repeat.
At WEiC, we’ve been making this argument since 2016: the industry gets stronger when women have a seat at every table, not just their own. That includes rooms like this one. If you’re a woman in cannabis and you’re not connected to the people building the structures that will shape your business, that’s the thing worth fixing next.
MCBA’s next Business of Cannabis workshop will be held in Richmond, VA from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., April 24. To learn more about MCBA and its mission, visit minoritycannabis.org
To connect with a community of women doing the same kind of work, become an official WEiC member! To connect and collab with other women, get listed on The Green Pages. For even more community and support, join the Higher Her Society!