Jay-Z Launches Fund for Minority-Owned Cannabis Startups
Thu / Jan 21st
Jay-Z has established a $10 million fund to benefit minority-owned startups in the cannabis industry.
Social justice should be at the heart of the cannabis industry since the first cannabis entrepreneurs have been persecuted by the justice system. As the Black Lives Matter movement has gained traction more cannabis companies are committing to social justice work.
Thu / Jan 21st
Jay-Z has established a $10 million fund to benefit minority-owned startups in the cannabis industry.
Wed / Jan 13th
Andy Cox, who was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to life for cultivating cannabis, has been set free after spending 13 years in prison.
Mon / Jan 4th
Activists with Montco NORML have started using old newspaper bins to distribute pardon applications for cannabis convictions throughout Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Tue / Dec 29th
A new Marijuana Diversion Program in Linn County, Iowa aims to prevent criminal records for first-time offenders caught with “a user quantity amount” of cannabis.
Wed / Dec 23rd
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has commuted the sentence of Michael Thompson, who was sentenced to 60 years in prison after selling cannabis to an undercover police officer in 1996.
Thu / Dec 17th
Fate Winslow, a Louisiana man who in 2008 was sentenced to life in prison over a $20 weed deal, has been set free following a successful appeal.
Tue / Dec 8th OPINION
The drug war is a long-documented instrument of institutional racism — but it’s also symptomatic of a much larger system that has worked to maintain the status quo for generations. This editorial explores the lessons learned and correlations to our future as we experience the crumbling of cannabis prohibition.
Wed / Nov 11th
Richard DeLisi, who has served 31 years of a 90-year prison sentence for nonviolent cannabis convictions, is set for an early release this winter in time to spend Christmas with his family.
Tue / Nov 10th
Sean Worsley, the Purple Heart recipient and PTSD patient who was arrested in Alabama in 2016 for possessing medical cannabis, has been released from prison after he was approved for parole last month.
Fri / Nov 6th
New Jersey Assemblyman Jamel Holley is calling for the immediate end of minor cannabis arrests and prosecutions after the state’s landslide vote in favor of legalization.
Thu / Nov 5th
With legalization the big winner in Tuesday night’s election, what other cannabis justice measures prevailed?
Tue / Oct 20th
Michael Thompson — the Flint, Michigan man who in 1994 was sentenced to 40-60 years for cannabis sales — will get a public parole hearing this November after 25 years of imprisonment.
Mon / Oct 19th
Sean Worsley, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient who was facing a multi-year prison sentence for cannabis possession in Alabama, has been released on parole.
Fri / Oct 16th
Washington state is one of the latest to address social equity in the cannabis industry, but business owners and potential social equity applicants say they have concerns about the state’s plan.
Wed / Oct 7th PODCAST
Jen Jackson is the founder and CEO of Be Jubie, a Baltimore-based CBD brand with a focus on wellness, restoration, education, and social justice.
Thu / Oct 1st
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order this morning issuing pardons to 2,732 Coloradans with convictions for possessing one ounce or less of cannabis.
Thu / Oct 1st
Judge Samuel Junkin in Pickens County, Alabama has denied a motion to release disabled Iraq war veteran Sean Worsely from jail for cannabis possession, despite a community supervision agreement for Worsely that included an employment offer and stable, local housing options.
Fri / Sep 25th
Playboy Enterprises is joining cannabis advocates in a social equity and social justice awareness campaign to push for the “legalization, decriminalization and destigmatization of cannabis.”
Mon / Aug 10th
A military vet who was sentenced to life in prison for selling $30 worth of cannabis to an undercover Louisiana police officer was recently resentenced to time served and will be released from prison.
Fri / Jul 31st
Veteran Sean Worsley stopped for gas in Gordo, Alabama to pump gas for his wife on a family road trip to his grandmother’s house. While pumping gas he was laughing and playing air guitar. He was approached by Gordo PD for violating a noise ordinance with his music, and the events that unfolded from there would change his life forever.
Thu / Jul 30th OPINION
With the legalization and regulation of cannabis, numerous states have attempted to address the lasting harms of the drug war by creating social equity grants for entrepreneurs from impacted communities. In Massachusetts, a bill is being considered that would offer loans instead.
Fri / Jun 26th OPINION
Throughout the last month, the entire world has been focused on the Black Lives Matter movement; simultaneously, the cannabis industry has remained largely silent on an influencer’s use of the N-word and photos of a dispensary owner in full blackface.
Mon / Jun 15th
Method Man is launching a cannabis business venture that will prioritize elevating entrepreneurs of color in the space.
Mon / Jun 15th
Former NBA player Al Harrington has launched a business incubator program to help Black entrepreneurs enter the cannabis space.
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