MARYLAND. -- On Thursday morning, Maryland's Cannabis Administration handed out nearly 200 new licenses for cannabis business owners. A good chunk of those will allow marijuana businesses to pop up here on the Eastern Shore.
The thought of more places to grow, process and buy weed have some people in Wicomico County, like Liam Hayden, looking forward to the future.
"More business is always a good thing, especially smaller business that is just starting," said Hayden. "I think it will also just be good because people have a way to get it and they don't have to go through different means."
And smaller businesses are what the Social Equity License Lottery, which happened on Thursday morning, aims to help.
Out of the 1,515 applicants, 84% were self-reported as minority or woman owned businesses. Well, those 1,515 applications boiled down to 172 licenses being awarded on Thursday.
Here on the Eastern Shore, it means these counties will each get additional dispensaries:
Caroline: 1
Dorchester: 1
Worcester: 1
Wicomico: 2
The Eastern Region(Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset and Worcester) will welcome 26 new businesses. That could include micro-dispensaries, micro-growers, micro-processors as well as standard growers and processors.
Where exactly all of these new businesses will go is still unknown.
With the legality of weed for recreational use being less than a year old though, a few neighbors we spoke with are still on the fence.
"It's so new to me that I just really don't know how I feel about it," said Ella Duma. "I kind of want to wait and see what happens.
While the licenses were awarded today, it does not mean each of those 172 winners is guaranteed a conditional license, giving them the ability to open up shop.
Before all of this becomes official, a pretty serious review process needs to happen. the MCA will conduct an investigation, verifying claims regarding social-equity ownership and control.