Report Outlines What Marijuana Companies Have Done To Help The Industry And Communities They Serve

The National Cannabis Roundtable (NCR) released its inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report Wednesday for 2022-2023, which highlights the collective efforts of NCR and its member companies to create a positive impact in the cannabis industry and the communities they serve in the areas of criminal justice reform, equity in business opportunity, workforce utilization, and health disparities.

"We named this report ‘Better Tomorrow Than Today’ to not only celebrate the great work of our members, but to serve as an acknowledgment of the existing gaps within the U.S. cannabis market and our concentrated efforts to address these challenges,” stated Saphira Galoob, executive director at NCR. “Looking ahead, we will continue to create initiatives and programs to contribute to the overall growth of the industry. We remain steadfast in setting new benchmarks for corporate social responsibility and call for others to join us on this transformative journey.”

Report Highlights

• National Cannabis Roundtable hosted a symposium on Capitol Hill on clemency policies and criminal justice reforms, resulting in the introduction of bipartisan federal legislation to create an expungement mechanism for low-level violations of marijuana law and provide an expedited, orderly process that clears the deck of non-felony cannabis offenses lingering in the federal system. Since the symposium, NCR also partnered with The Weldon Project and Oklahoma Appleseed to prepare petitions for the expedited release of more than a dozen individuals currently incarcerated because of cannabis convictions.

• Cresco Labs CRLBF: Provided over $735,000 in direct support of restorative justice organizations and sponsored over 60 community and resource fairs across nine states, assisting over 8,000 individuals as part of the “Summer of Social Justice” initiative.

• Fluence: Launched the Women Innovation Leaders Forum to address the need for women across the horticulture/cannabis industry to meet quarterly to discuss innovation, community, and cross-collaboration. Members benefit through engagement in direct “cross-pollination” with leading women across the horticulture industry worldwide, exposure to best practices, innovation insights, and the ability to contribute to the next generation of women leaders.

• Greenspoon Marder: Expanded its partnerships and services offered as part of Project New Leaf, which mobilizes its talented attorneys across the U.S. to provide pro bono expungement and record sealing services to individuals in underserved communities, and more particularly, those impacted by the War on Drugs.

• iLava: Worked with the Arizona Marijuana Expungement Coalition’s Reclaim Your Future campaign to help individuals with marijuana-related public criminal records have those records expunged, hosting a free legal aid clinic that resulted in three individuals already having their records expunged.

• Pura Vida Investments: Raised more than $1 million in peer-to-peer fundraising to support The Bowery Mission in helping individuals experiencing homelessness and hunger through compassionate care services, residential programs, and transitional housing in addition to providing funding and volunteers for the organization’s nightly dinner service.

• TILT Holdings TLLTF: Partnered with the Shinnecock Indian Nation by providing financial investment, training, and mentoring to help establish Little Beach Harvest, the first tribally-owned, operated, and tax-free cannabis dispensary in Eastern Long Island.

• Verano VRNOF: Launched its Round Up for Cannabis Reform dispensary donation program benefitting The Weldon Project’s MISSION [GREEN] and the non-profit organization’s advocacy for cannabis- related criminal justice reform. With the support of the company, Verano team members and its dispensary visitors were able to donate $140,715 to MISSION [GREEN] in support of cannabis clemency.

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