Chelsea Higgs Wise
Chelsea Higgs WiseAge: 38
Title: Executive director
Company: Marijuana Justice
Marijuana Justice co-founder and executive director Chelsea Higgs Wise was an instrumental part of pushing cannabis legalization forward in the South, as her organization led to victory the CannaJustice Coalition, which includes Justice Forward VA, RISE for Youth and the Virginia Student Power Network.
“In 2021, through the organizing of our CannaJustice Coalition, Virginia became the first state in the U.S. South to repeal the prohibition of simple possession and legalized home cultivation up to four plants,” she says. “That year we also joined the Virginia Expungement Council to push for the automatic sealing of records for tens of thousands of Virginia residents with misdemeanor marijuana convictions.”
Wise became involved in cannabis advocacy in 2019, when Virginian residents were reflecting on the 400th anniversary of enslaved Africans arriving in the state while at the same time grappling with the 1984 yearbook photo attributed to then-Governor Ralph Northam with a man in blackface standing alongside another man dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The confluence of those events led Wise to help create a Black-led platform advocating for cannabis legalization “that repealed disproportionately enforced prohibition laws, repaired our family units and regulated an economy that protects Black people, Black communities and Black businesses,” she says.
“The next step for our organization is to partner with industry experts and organizers to create a strategy for a decriminalization movement in the South that focuses on repealing the prohibition and repairing individuals and communities,” Wise says. “Infusing the latest information and tools in the hands of Southern organizations will be key to a collective movement for the nation as we push for federal de-classification, decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.”
Q&A
What prompted the founding of Marijuana Justice?
In 2019, Virginia was reflecting back on the last 400 years of harms against Black communities while also calling for accountability of a former Virginia governor after his racist undergraduate and medical school yearbook photos were revealed.
One strategy that was named by community members demanding justice of the administration was a legalization push that centered racial justice. This meant legalization that repealed disproportionately enforced prohibition laws, repaired our family units and regulated an economy that protects Black people, Black communities and Black businesses.
What has been your biggest milestone thus far?
In 2021, through the organizing of our CannaJustice Coalition, Virginia became the first state in the U.S. South to repeal the prohibition of simple possession and legalized home cultivation up to 4 plants. That year we also joined the Virginia Expungement Council to push for the automatic sealing of records for tens of thousands of Virginia residents with misdemeanor marijuana convictions.
In your opinion, what should be the minimum requirements for a social equity program aiming to help POC in the cannabis industry? Are any states getting it right?
There are many states who have attempted to patch up the floodgate they’ve opened by circling back to equity, but New York is doing their best to implement best practices. Rather than allowing the demand for access to lead the process, New York is building at a slow and steady pace for inclusion.
It might take some imagination, but rather than crafting standards based on social equity programming, we have to look at the impact of a state’s legalization in its entirety. The minimum requirements of any adult-use proposal must be based on repairing the harms of racist enforcement that begins at repealing marijuana crimes, releasing and resentencing those with marijuana offenses still impacting their freedom, allowing for home grow and establishing regulations to license businesses controlled by people most impacted first, while also excluding monopolies.
What is the next major milestone for Marijuana Justice and why is it important to the industry?
The next step for our organization is to partner with industry experts and organizers to create a strategy for a decriminalization movement in the South that focuses on repealing the prohibition and repairing individuals and communities. Infusing the latest information and tools in the hands of Southern organizations will be key to a collective movement for the nation as we push for federal de-classification, decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.