The City of San Jose has received a $150,000 state grant to examine various ways to boost racial equity in the cannabis industry.

Over the past year, San Jose has received $560,000 for its cannabis equity program. The most recent grant aims to make said equity program more effective. The cannabis industry has been legal in San Jose since 2018.

San Jose is one of many cities to pursue equity programs trying to reverse the injustices of the ‘War on Drugs’, and help people of color gain accessibility to the cannabis industry.

“There are all kinds of really important questions for us to ask right now in terms of equity — and perhaps even reach beyond the questions that would be asked around the cannabis grant — which are frankly just about criminal justice,” sociology professor William Armaline said to the San Jose Observer. “You’re looking at who was most disenfranchised from the prosecution of the drug war … and there’s all kinds of really interesting things that could be done in this context.”

Similar studies have been conducted in California cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland.