Uncle Ike’s Ian Eisenberg (Image: CHS)

With Seattle’s cannabis shops preparing for this week’s 4/20 celebrations as the state marks its 10th year of legal marijuana, one of the city’s leading retailers will be the first to take part in Washington’s new Cannabis Social Equity Program designed to increase participation in the industry “by those most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.”

State permitting shows that the original Uncle Ike’s at 23rd and Union will be the first cannabis business in Seattle to have its license fee refunded under the equity program.

According to a Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board spokesperson, Ike’s qualified for the program under a provision “that encourages all retail outlets to submit to the Board a ‘Social Equity Plan.'”

“Each non-social equity licensee who submits a plan can receive a reimbursement of their annual license fee on a one-time basis and for one location (if they hold more than one license),” the board rep said.

The 23rd Ave Ike’s shop is one of three King County businesses to have the refunds approved. The Kaleafa shop in Des Moines and Vashon producer Laughing Man Farms have also submitted qualifying plans.

Central District entrepreneur and real estate investor Ian Eisenberg opened the first Uncle Ike’s at 23rd and Union in September, 2014 and added the first Capitol Hill Uncle Ike’s on 15th Ave E in late 2016. The E Olive Way Ike’s opened in the summer of 2020. The chain also has shops on Lake City Way and In White Center.

The presence of Eisenberg’s headquarters in the Central District on a street corner that was once a notorious area in the city’s illegal drug trade has been contentious with protests, rallies, and lawsuits targeting the chain over the years.

More than 80% of Washington’s pot shop owners are white. About five years ago, efforts began to grow to address equity in the industry including equity legislation in Seattle. In 2023, Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board regulators announced the start of a process to open up new social equity retail marijuana licenses designed to put more licenses into the hands of people living low-income and in impacted areas who were either busted for a past cannabis offense or a relative to someone who was.

Earlier this year, Cloud 9 Cannabis Company opened in Arlington under black ownership as the first retailer to operate under the new equity licensing guidelines.

The “social equity plan” program gives shops that wouldn’t be able to qualify for the social equity licensing and aren’t located in the state-designated “Disproportionately Impacted Areas” (map) like Uncle Ike’s incentive to provide equity information to the liquor and cannabis board and participate in social equity initiatives.

“A Social Equity Plan is a strategy enacted by cannabis businesses to help improve the communities most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs,” the state’s industry regulators said in an announcement of the refund program. “Right now, our requirements for the Social Equity Plans are open-ended because we want to give members of the cannabis industry the room to be creative in how they help impacted communities.”

The state says examples of potential “social equity plans” could include “a community garden, a neighborhood community project, or hiring an individual who was incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes.”

Retail sales of adult-use cannabis in Washington from 2015 to 2022 in billions (Source: Statista)

Under the program’s “Disproportionately Impacted Areas” restrictions, it is unlikely Capitol Hill or the Central District will ever see a social equity-licensed cannabis operator here meaning plans like Uncle Ike’s will be this area’s only manifestation of the legislative effort.

We’ve asked Uncle Ike’s for details of their 23rd and Union plan but the company has not responded. The state will provide the plans through its public disclosure process, the board spokesperson told CHS.

Washington cannabis sales reached above $1 billion again in 2023. Sales are subject to a hefty 37% excise tax used to fund state Department of Health programs, other state programs, and industry regulation.

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