MJBizMag November-December 2020 - 14

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
L
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.
Launching Anacostia Organics in January
2019 was years in the making. But the three
women were faced with disparities in the
licensing process and had difficulty getting
access to capital, said Mercado, who served
as chief of staff to former District of Columbia
Mayor Marion Barry and founded the Linda Greene Group, a
public relations company.
Mercado said she and her business partners received
who finally provided funding.
" They weren't asking for ownership, " she said of
ultimately accepting the investor's terms.
Funding wasn't the only obstacle. Mercado and her
friends found that all the cultivation licenses had gone to
men-some of them from outside DC-and almost none had
gone to minorities. Mercado and her partners took their
findings to the city, drafted emergency legislation on their
own and got approval for regulators to reopen the licensing
process and ensure parity.
Before Anacostia Organics opened, there were no
dispensaries in Washington DC's Wards 7 and 8, among
the poorest areas in the city and where 25% of medical
marijuana cardholders live, Mercado said.
Mercado shared with Marijuana Business Magazine the
challenges of her journey to becoming a dispensary owner.
She will also be speaking about the election on
Nov. 2 as part of MJBizCon's passholder days; learn more
and register at mjbizconference.com.
What was the most difficult hurdle you overcame
when you started your business?
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.
20 Marijuana Business Magazine | November-December 2020
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.
They wanted control of the company and just
wanted us to have a small portion and be a
figurehead.
It took us a couple of years. And then, while
Linda Mercado Greene
I was speaking to some friends one day, they
said, " I think I have somebody for you. " And they
introduced us to an angel investor.
The next hurdle was finding a building to lease since
offers for capital, but investors wanted to run the operation
or have a big stake in the company. It was an angel investor
cannabis is still federally illegal.
And the third was gaining the support of my community,
which was difficult because of a lack of education about
medical cannabis versus street drugs and their effects.
What do you see as your business' mission?
My dispensary is located in the most underserved ward in
DC with residents who are riddled with health disparities.
Since I live in the community where we operate the
dispensary, my primary mission is to make high-quality
cannabis medications accessible and affordable for my
neighbors. Until Anacostia Organics opened, my neighbors
had no choice but to travel all the way across the city using
public transportation or car-share to obtain their medicine.
Further, it is extremely hard for minorities to enter the
cannabis industry. Therefore, I made a commitment to
hiring employees from my community to teach them
the industry and be a gateway for them to become
entrepreneurs.
In addition to running your own company, you
belong to a number of cannabis trade associations,
including one where you chair a task force
on diversity and inclusion. Can you explain what
the group does?
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.

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MJBizMag November-December 2020

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