FiveQuestions | with Linda Mercado Greene
Lack of Access Plagues the Industry From capital to cannabis, legalization has left minority populations behind, entrepreneur says By Ivan Moreno
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I can’t begin to tell you how many investor groups said they were interested and they wanted to back us and they wanted us to succeed. But I can honestly tell you that we turned them all down because they were demanding high percentages of our company. Launching Anacostia Organics in January They wanted control of the company and just 2019 was years in the making. But the three wanted us to have a small portion and be a women were faced with disparities in the figurehead. licensing process and had difficulty getting It took us a couple of years. And then, while access to capital, said Mercado, who served I was speaking to some friends one day, they Linda Mercado Greene as chief of staff to former District of Columbia said, “I think I have somebody for you.” And they Mayor Marion Barry and founded the Linda Greene Group, a introduced us to an angel investor. public relations company. The next hurdle was finding a building to lease since Mercado said she and her business partners received cannabis is still federally illegal. offers for capital, but investors wanted to run the operation And the third was gaining the support of my community, or have a big stake in the company. It was an angel investor which was difficult because of a lack of education about who finally provided funding. medical cannabis versus street drugs and their effects. “They weren’t asking for ownership,” she said of What do you see as your business’ mission? ultimately accepting the investor’s terms. My dispensary is located in the most underserved ward in Funding wasn’t the only obstacle. Mercado and her DC with residents who are riddled with health disparities. friends found that all the cultivation licenses had gone to Since I live in the community where we operate the men—some of them from outside DC—and almost none had dispensary, my primary mission is to make high-quality gone to minorities. Mercado and her partners took their cannabis medications accessible and affordable for my findings to the city, drafted emergency legislation on their neighbors. Until Anacostia Organics opened, my neighbors own and got approval for regulators to reopen the licensing had no choice but to travel all the way across the city using process and ensure parity. public transportation or car-share to obtain their medicine. Before Anacostia Organics opened, there were no Further, it is extremely hard for minorities to enter the dispensaries in Washington DC’s Wards 7 and 8, among cannabis industry. Therefore, I made a commitment to the poorest areas in the city and where 25% of medical hiring employees from my community to teach them marijuana cardholders live, Mercado said. the industry and be a gateway for them to become Mercado shared with Marijuana Business Magazine the entrepreneurs. challenges of her journey to becoming a dispensary owner. She will also be speaking about the election on In addition to running your own company, you Nov. 2 as part of MJBizCon’s passholder days; learn more belong to a number of cannabis trade associaand register at mjbizconference.com.
inda Mercado Greene, co-founder and CEO of Anacostia Organics, was already a successful businesswoman and a veteran political strategist when she decided to enter the medical marijuana industry in Washington DC with two friends, Sherri Blount and Yolanda Caraway.
What was the most difficult hurdle you overcame when you started your business?
tions, including one where you chair a task force on diversity and inclusion. Can you explain what the group does?
There were several significant and equal hurdles. Securing capital as a Black woman was my first hurdle. Black people don’t have generational wealth, and it’s been hard for us to get any capital for years. You really can’t go to your own community of color because, once again, the capital is not there. The generational wealth is not there.
Yes, I am the former chair of the DC Medical Cannabis Trade Association, which we just dissolved to form a new association, the DC Cannabis Trade Association (DCCTA), for which I am an incorporator and the chair. The DCCTA will be much more inclusive, allowing ancillary businesses and medical-referring professionals to join.
20 Marijuana Business Magazine | November-December 2020