Maryland picks 179 businesses in social equity cannabis lottery

The Maryland Cannabis Administration selected 179 businesses out of over 1,500 applications Thursday in a lottery to get the chance to enter the nascent Maryland cannabis industry. The selection process put an end to a process fraught with weeks of delays as the MCA processed over 1,700 applications and lawsuits that threatened to stop the rollout of new cannabis businesses. After the first winners of the lottery were selected, MCA Executive Director William Tilburg smiled as a group of local entrepreneurs got one step closer to opening their own dispensary business.