medical cannabis

Ashley “Lux” Elzinga is now a social media content creator promoting medical marijuana brands after leaving her job of 15 years as a DJ for the Point on 105.7.

Black entrepreneurs — many of whom struggled to get awarded medical marijuana dispensary licenses in Missouri — want to see more entrepreneurs of marginalized backgrounds break into the cannabis industry.

A judge permanently blocked Missouri from enforcing a requirement that medical marijuana licenses go to businesses owned by residents.

Missouri’s fledgling medical marijuana program has approved nearly 70,000 patient and caregiver applications — so many, there is not yet enough legal cannabis in the state to serve them all. And for some patients, the prices seem pretty high. But people working in the industry say patience is necessary. The seeds of the solution to both problems are already in the ground.

Marne Madison is trying to help Black people find new ways into Missouri's cannabis industry, by starting ancillary businesses or learning to grow cannabis at home.

BELLEVILLE — Thousands of retail stores and other businesses have shuttered across Illinois under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “stay-at-home” order, which was…