Covered in white protective clothing, Wendy Bronfein stepped into a long, sterile hallway of closed doors. Everything down to the wheels on the carts at the new marijuana manufacturing facility in St. Louis County gets scrubbed regularly.
Abe Givins sunk into a leather armchair at the Cola Private Lounge in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon, where his company hosted a panel of doctors speaking about medical marijuana.
More than 2,000 applications were submitted for medical marijuana licenses in 2019, but fewer than 400 were ultimately awarded. And while the state doesn’t track the race of those who got a license, people in the burgeoning industry say few went to Black-owned businesses.