As the cannabis industry professionalizes, consolidates, and globalizes, a basic question still goes unanswered far too often:Who built this space, and who paid the price before it became profitable?
To mark Black History Month and its 10th anniversary, Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) has released its inaugural Power 100, recognizing 100 Black leaders whose work shaped cannabis culture, patient access, policy reform, and community organizing long before legalization became a business model.
This is not an awards rollout. It is closer to a historical record.
“This list is about impact, not optics,” said M4MM Founder and CEO Roz McCarthy. “It documents who showed up early, stayed when it was difficult, and carried the weight of advocacy when there was no economic upside.”
That framing matters. The Power 100 is not about who is winning now. It is about who made it possible for anyone to win at all.
Why the Power 100 Exists
Long before cannabis became a regulated market or a venture-backed industry, Black communities absorbed the harshest consequences of prohibition. Arrests, incarceration, surveillance, and economic exclusion were not side effects. They were policy outcomes.
While legalization has opened doors for some, many of the people who fought for reform did so at personal and professional risk, with little recognition once the industry shifted toward capital and scale.
The Power 100 exists to close that gap.
Rather than measuring annual performance or revenue, M4MM focused on long-term influence, including:
Expanding patient access and medical cannabis programs
Shaping local, state, and federal cannabis policy
Building advocacy organizations and education platforms
Creating pathways for equity participation
Normalizing cannabis through culture, research, and public discourse
In many cases, the work recognized here predates legalization entirely, spanning early medical cannabis efforts, grassroots organizing, and policy fights that laid the groundwork for today’s frameworks.
Author: Javier Hasse / High Times
