How Hawthorne Gardening Company is fighting for a just cannabis industry
Cannabis should open doors – not close them.
The wave of cannabis legalization is a net good: growers are emerging from the shadows, agriculture is picking up, and millions of people have access to the plant for a variety of purposes. But ending Prohibition is not enough – even after legalization, the shock waves of the drug war will still hit the hardest hit communities. For many, including those who have been in the cannabis business for decades, the ban is still strong, even in areas where cannabis has been legalized or decriminalized.
Hawthorne Gardening Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, recognizes the differences in the cannabis industry. Cannabis growers of all sizes are loyal users of the Hawthorne brands and while some of them thrive in this new legal environment, others are left behind or even have time.
In addition to its public order and advocacy efforts towards legalization, Hawthorne has provided $ 2.5 million to organizations with missions over the next two years through the Hawthorne Social Justice Fund, administered by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation Fund for social justice in the cannabis field.
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This money goes directly to nonprofits that are working to fill the equity gaps in the cannabis industry. These include cannabis mercy and re-entry programs that work to free those incarcerated on non-violent charges related to cannabis and ensure they can thrive. The fund also supports organizations that are more economically involved in the cannabis industry, such as job creation, entrepreneurship and investment opportunities in minority communities.
The goal: to create a cannabis industry that is only there for everyone.
A story of two cannabis industries
While some are seeing the benefits of a booming cannabis industry, many, especially people of color, are still suffering from the effects of the ban.
The differences are sobering: according to the American Civil Liberties Union, colored people are almost four times more likely to be charged with marijuana possession than whites, despite similar marijuana use rates between the two groups. Two studies from 2020 that analyzed more than 100 million traffic controls found that vehicle searches decreased after cannabis legalization, but people of color still had a disproportionately higher risk that a traffic stop would result in a vehicle search.
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Around 80% of cannabis business owners are white. Meanwhile, roughly the same percentage of people in federal prisons for drug offenses are black or Latino, according to the Drug Policy Alliance.
Do the work
The Hawthorne Social Justice Fund fellows are doing hard work to combat the harm caused by a disproportionate number of cannabis-related arrests and incarcerations involving people of color – and to provide overdue support to the cannabis economy for underrepresented communities to give.
The NuLeaf project works to build intergenerational prosperity through the legal cannabis industry for communities disproportionately damaged by cannabis crime – including black and brown communities. Hawthorne Gardening Company funds and participates in their Nu School Accelerator Program, which brings black-and-brown-owned cannabis companies off the ground with expertise in startup funding and business operations.
Medical Marijuana Minorities (M4MM) provides advocacy, public relations, research and education related to business, social reform, public order, and health and wellness in the cannabis industry. Its Project Clean Slate program provides fire fighting clinics and full service nationwide for those affected by past marijuana ownership fees, while Project Safe Access NV helps members of the Latino community with access to medical marijuana.
Marijuana Policy Project Foundation (MPP) is a racial and social justice project that aims to raise cannabis reform as a civil rights issue at the national level and to increase diverse representation within the legal cannabis industry.
Last prisoner project (LPP) is dedicated to reforming the cannabis criminal justice system and advocating the release of people with low convictions of cannabis from prison in states where it is now legal and avenues to employment.
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United Returning Citizens (URC) helps people with cannabis convictions in the Youngstown, Ohio area find work or start businesses in the fields of hemp, indoor growing, and legal cannabis growing.
Learn more about the Hawthorne Social Justice Fund and the work these organizations are doing to create an equitable cannabis industry on the Hawthorne website.
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