Massachusetts won national praise for being the first state to legalize recreational weed with an eye to equity. Voters in 2016 said they wanted a cannabis industry that somehow included people who were impacted by the War on Drugs. But since then, those very people have been squeezed out of the industry -- people like Chauncy Spencer. He grew up in Boston, sold weed when he was young, and paid the price for it. When he tried to open a legal pot shop, he faced surprising competition from another entrepreneur who was quietly backed by a major corporation.

This story is Part 2 of 8 in a series called Fair Shake, about what drug laws and the cannabis business can teach us about social equity in the U.S.

Written and reported by Ann Marie Awad, with Dan Adams of the Boston Globe
Lead producers: Jo Erickson, with mixing by Matt Simonson
Editor: Dennis Funk
Music: Daniel Mescher, Brad Turner
Executive producers: Brad Turner, Kevin Dale
Additional producers: Luis Antonio Perez, Rebekah Romberg
Illustrator: Jonell Joshua

Thanks also to Kim Nguyen, Jodi Gersh, Clara Shelton, Matt Herz, Martin Skavish, Rachel Estabrook, Francie Swidler.

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