Cannaclusive Urging Inclusivity in the Cannabis Industry
The Accountability List Shows Cannabis Companies in the US Not Doing Enough. Are We? – LPC
The Black Lives Matter resurgence in recent weeks has shined a light in many corners including inclusivity in the cannabis industry. Cannaclusive, which launched in 2017, wrote an open letter to the “cannabis and hemp industry” recently. In it, the founders asked for better employment and increasing Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (POC) leadership.
“We’re asking for people to see us. We’re still not being seen,” said Cannaclusive co-founder Mary Pryor. “If it’s not going to take Trayvon (Martin), Breonna (Taylor), and George Floyd to make a difference… then it’s time to hold people accountable.” She added that the industry is being “gobbled up” by white men who intentionally “are making it hostile for POC to exist in the cannabis industry”.
Cannaclusive launched The Accountability List to measure how 262 companies (and counting) in the States are reacting to the George Floyd protests. The Accountability List is “living, breathing document” that promotes inclusivity in the cannabis industry by giving each company a rating. This score is based on several factors including the number of black employees, whether they are POC-owned, how they addressed the killing of George Floyd, and if they’ve made any relevant donations. According to Pryor, none of the companies on The Accountability List are doing enough.
It’s easy to make this a US-only issue. But issues of cannabis and racism are prevalent in both the US and Canada. This can be measured in several different ways. One is the number of non-white owners and executives at the largest cannabis companies. Another is the disproportionate number of non-whites in jail for cannabis and other drug offences.
Cannaclusive doesn’t seem to operate in Canada at all. We can take its lead though to examine whether or not we’re doing enough. Certainly, the cannabis pardons process has been identified as inaccessible to a disproportionate number of people in Canada. Then there was the fact that First Nations were left out of the Cannabis Act, creating uncertainty. Over-representation of Indigneous and blacks in Canada’s justice system for cannabis use is equally a problem here as it is in the US.
It’s time to reflect on what we can do in Canada to make inclusivity in the cannabis industry – and all of society – a reality.
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