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Arizona Health Department releases residential ZIP codes for Social Equity Marijuana Licenses

As part of last year’s ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana, the Department of Health Services is required to issue 26 retail licenses to people in communities affected by Arizona’s biased enforcement of previous marijuana laws.

ADHS has now released the list of ZIP codes where those receiving the license must have lived for three of the last five years.

A 2018 report from a nonpartisan nonprofit showed that Hispanic people in Arizona made up almost 60% of prison admissions for marijuana possession in a span of 30 years.

The same report showed that in five of Arizona's 15 counties, Black people were admitted at a rate three times their proportion of the county’s population.

The 87 ZIP codes identified by the department included some in Phoenix and Tucson, and others in smaller border communities and on or near Native American reservations.

Including the 26 social equity shops, the state will have just 169 shops licensed to sell marijuana.

Awarding of the equity licenses will be random, and selection is expected to take place in early 2022, according to the department.

To learn more about the licensing rollout, The Show spoke with former state health director and the current head of the Arizona Public Health Association, Will Humble.

Hear Will Humble's Interview With Host Mark Brodie On The Show

harris-in-mexico-show-mm-lg-20210608.mp3

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Vaughan Jones was a reporter at KJZZ from 2020 to 2022.