Minnesota has begun distributing some of the revenue raised by marijuana’s legalization to communities harmed by past cannabis prohibition laws.

In recent weeks, the state’s Office of Cannabis Management announced it is sending out $1 million in grant funds to nonprofits across the state for projects designed to uplift marginalized communities, especially those who were over policed and racially profiled under prohibition.

“It’s really about righting the wrongs of the past,” said Jess Jackson, the office’s director of social equity. “It’s a reparative program.”

Drug enforcement has disproportionately impacted people of color in Minnesota and across the country. In 2020, before cannabis was legalized in the state, the American Civil Liberties Union reported that Black people, were 5.4 ti

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