Applications now open for Maryland’s Cannabis Business Assistance Fund

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — With the clock ticking until Maryland’s cannabis legalization date, small businesses are making plans and funding is now available.

By the Fourth of July, the sky won’t be the only thing lighting up in the state. Marijuana is set to go legal on July 1, and now funding for small businesses wanting to get in on the cannabis industry is available.

The Maryland Department of Commerce is now accepting applications for the Cannabis Business Assistance Fund. This is the first round of funding, and processor and grower licensees are eligible for a grant of up to $50,000. Dispensary licensees are eligible for a grant of up to $25,000. The funding provides grants to help existing medical-use licensees with the cost of converting their license to an adult-use license.

Priority will be provided to license owners in areas disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

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Funding will also be available to train and assist small businesses, including minority and women business owners and entrepreneurs. Eligible existing license holders must be considered a small business with no more than 50 employees, and at least 51% of the business owners must have a personal net worth not exceeding $1.7 million. Grant applications are being accepted through June 30.

“There’s a lot of focus on this legislation for making sure we are creating economic opportunities for small, minority women-owned businesses and those who have been disadvantaged in the past and have the opportunity now to seek economic opportunity through this new industry that’s being created here,” said Maryland Commerce Assistant Secretary Heather Gramm.

Future funding opportunities will also be offered to historically Black colleges and universities for cannabis-related programs.

The second round of applications for conditional grants and loans for startup capital and operating expenses opens on Aug. 1. The general goal of the state is to license entrepreneurs, drive revenue and develop the workforce — in other words, a lot of jobs.

“The industry does create a lot of jobs in states and it creates them very quickly. And it’s a wide range of jobs from retail to agriculture to delivery, logistics manufacturing, and extraction, and kitchen work for edibles. So you really have an incredibly diverse workforce that ends up getting pulled together,” said Sloane Barbour, founder and CEO of Engin.

When cannabis becomes legal later this summer, sales of the product will come with a 9% tax.

For more information and to apply online, visit the Maryland Department of Commerce Cannabis Business Assistance Fund website.