Making a milestone as the first marijuana dispensary to open through the Cannabis Control Commission’s economic empowerment program, the owners of Pure Oasis are hoping their business can help create an “energy around entrepreneurship.”

Pure Oasis is opening its doors Monday in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester, not only the first economic empowerment business but also Boston’s first dispensary.

Part of a program that was created to give priority to people disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs, the opening of Pure Oasis is a significant step in Massachusetts’ growing marijuana industry.

With this milestone, co-owners Kobie Evans and Kevin Hart hope to spark a new energy around the Blue Hill Avenue dispensary.

“Not only do we want to come to the neighborhood and create jobs and financial opportunities, we also want to create this energy around entrepreneurship,” Hart said. “So we hope that because we look like the community, people within the community will look at us and sort of take from us what we’ve done and do things similar.”

The pair have hired employees from the neighborhood ahead of the 11 a.m. opening on Monday. Pure Oasis currently has 34 employees and plans to hire as many as 50 people. The owners said they encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.

“Most of our employees come from our immediate neighborhood," Evans said Friday inside the Pure Oasis dispensary as some of those employees prepped for Monday’s opening.

Being able to share the experience of opening a business centered around equity and community is something special for the two.

“Being a minority from the neighborhood, I think we both kind of had a dream where we would have the opportunity to work at a business like that,” Evans said.

And if the roles were reversed, Evans said he and Hart would want the opportunity to work at a business like there’s, with equity at its core.

When marijuana was legalized in 2016, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh had been against the measure.

But standing alongside Hart and Evans inside Pure Oasis on Friday, Walsh noted that he’s learned about all the benefits a marijuana business can bring to the city.

The opening of a business centered around equity is what Walsh said he believes was at the heart of many voters who approved marijuana legalization.

“I’m proud that Boston is now home to the first economic empowerment operator in the state and one of the first in the entire country,” Walsh said. “Like all businesses, Pure Oasis is going to create new jobs. It’s going to bring economic activity into our neighborhoods. It’s going to attract customers."

Pure Oasis will bring money into Boston through taxes, Walsh noted, and help close economic gaps.

It also changes the way city officials look at public safety.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said police and Pure Oasis will work together, strengthening the connection between businesses and law enforcement.

“It’s not going to be an ‘us vs. them’ just because of the mere moniker of marijuana," Gross said. “We as the Boston Police Department are completely rooted in community policing. We support all businesses and what they bring to the table."

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