Ten Lessons Learned by Cannabis Community Care and Research Network (C3RN) from 2017 - 2020
1. Communities and individuals who have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs, as well as those who operate in the unregulated cannabis market still continue to face antiquated barriers to entry in the legal industry both in Massachusetts and nationally.
There are people currently in jail for cannabis charges in Massachusetts, despite cannabis sales being deemed “essential” and operational during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also individuals who still have cannabis felonies on their records in states who have legalized both medical and recreational cannabis, and face difficulties in securing employment and ownership due to these records.
We don’t have to dive into how backwards these realities are, but suffice it to say our team will continue to fight for these individuals and communities in a personal capacity.
2. Those negatively impacted by the war on drugs are primarily black and brown people. The ongoing racial injustice against communities of color, coupled with disproportionate impact of COVID-19 among these communities highlights the need to further standby and support these communities during these difficult times. Communities impacted by the war on drugs should not only be actively engaged but actively supported in obtaining funding and resources to succeed and thrive in the legal cannabis industry.
Providing these communities with the opportunity for meaningful participation in the regulated legal cannabis market will further the fight for social equity in this industry. The Massachusetts economic empowerment and social equity program is an example of the first in the nation state-wide program, yet applicants and certificate holders still require additional support. More funding and technical services for the program and participants can help bolster positive outcomes moving forward.
Key existing barriers to entry include: local control, access to capital, and access to technical resources and wrap around services to help applicants succeed.
Those harmed by the war on drugs should be empowered and financed to design programs that work directly for their own communities. Additionally, the traditional/unregulated market consists of some truly innovative pioneers with inimitable experience. Excluding them from the industry will hinder the advancement of the entire industry’s efforts.
3. Academics, policy makers, leaders in the cannabis industry (both regulated and unregulated), clinicians, public health professionals, consumers, and patients alike demonstrated a desire to unite and collaborate to drive change together with C3RN.
Challenges continue to prevent active collaboration among and between these communities due to cannabis being federally illegal - preventing partnerships from occurring. Thoughtful approaches to partnership can drive innovation in Massachusetts and nationally to successfully implement education, research, and social justice models for international replication.
4. There is an appetite and readiness for high-quality cannabis education.
Our experience working with Boston University, UMass Dartmouth, and Holyoke Community College demonstrated that collaborating with existing educational institutions to incorporate cannabis education and research can be effective. By combining industry, community, and academic knowledge and skills, we are able to craft a more wholesome educational experience for students.
While the regulated industry is relatively new, the unregulated market has a wealth of knowledge. By allowing these minds to contribute to cannabis education in Massachusetts and beyond we can add even more perspectives and backgrounds to the conversation.
5. There is a need to invest in cannabis research, but not solely for companies' own financial gain.
Cannabis research agendas are currently woefully underfunded, however, the opportunity exists to broaden the scope of how we assess clinical and public health outcomes, social justice impacts, and serve as a mechanism to hear community and patient voices and concerns, while providing actionable recommendations. C3RN utilized innovative methods to engage academia, patients, consumers, and the industry in research.
However, it was extremely challenging to fundraise for these efforts. Over the last three years, we found a few dedicated individuals and companies who supported our research efforts. However, it was a challenge to convince SOME in the industry to collaborate and financially support the studies we conducted. The industry should be supportive of research and educational efforts as it ultimately helps them, and the border healthcare, patient, consumer and academic communities to have this important community information and data.
Data collected through our studies with UMass Dartmouth and partners were used as a way to drive community awareness, education, and change. And it worked - those models made change locally. Consider funding these types of research programs moving forward to support the growth of the industry as a whole by generating the much needed on the ground data and evidence.
6. There is a need to engage researchers, the industry, and educators in the era of COVID-19
Exploring how the cannabis industry can contribute to the collective fight with COVID-19 will hold clinical, public health, and economic value.
7. Veterans deserve access to medical cannabis, and the federal VA needs to change policy to allow access to alternative treatments.
Through the Veterans Health and Medical Cannabis study launched in 2019, C3RN and partners learned that veterans enjoy a much greater quality of life with cannabis and most are using cannabis as a way to reduce the use of unwanted prescription or over the counter medications.
More work needs to be done to create access for those veterans who choose cannabis as an alternative. Find study results here: www.cannabisadvancementseries.org and www.cannaresearchnetwork.com
8. Community advocacy works!
C3RN, together with colleagues, hosted three press conferences in 2019; two at the Massachusetts state house steps, and one virtually that advocated for: rebuttal to academic prohibition, the Massachusetts Vape Ban, and in support of Massachusetts Hemp Industry through aiding the formation of the Mass Hemp Coalition. We saw change as a result of these efforts, and the efforts of other local advocates who shared their voices. C3RN learned that collective community voices count and can indeed make a measurable difference.
Cannabis community advocates are - like cannabis research companies - either underfunded or lack funds completely. Even more distressing is that often these advocates are expected to work for free, or for very little money. Advocates are some of the most powerful voices in making change for an industry worth billions, and it’s time they start getting the recognition and compensation they deserve.
9. Competition among groups advancing social equity is counter-productive to say the least.
Pitting communities, advocates, industry leaders, policy makers, multi-state operators, and other stakeholders against each other does not work. Organizations within the industry who perpetuate this type of confusion and competition is counter-productive to the meaningful change we all purport to be invested in. If we want an equitable industry to thrive, we need to strive for collaboration rather than cutthroat competition.
10. Despite legalization, racial disparities in arrests continue to exist.
A report released by the ACLU on 4/20/2020 found that people of color are still much more likely to be arrested compared to their white counterparts, despite consumption rates being similar. Countless men and women from historically marginalized communities are still sitting in jail for cannabis while cannabis is deemed an essential business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Massachusetts racial disparities in arrests in fact increased in 2018 from 2010, despite cannabis legalization within that time frame. In Massachusetts, black people are four times more likely to be arrested than their white counterparts in 2018. Source: https://graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/.
In today’s political climate, one thing that has resonated with the C3RN team is the need to eliminate these racial disparities once and for all.
There are people currently in jail for cannabis charges in Massachusetts, despite cannabis sales being deemed “essential” and operational during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also individuals who still have cannabis felonies on their records in states who have legalized both medical and recreational cannabis, and face difficulties in securing employment and ownership due to these records.
We don’t have to dive into how backwards these realities are, but suffice it to say our team will continue to fight for these individuals and communities in a personal capacity.
2. Those negatively impacted by the war on drugs are primarily black and brown people. The ongoing racial injustice against communities of color, coupled with disproportionate impact of COVID-19 among these communities highlights the need to further standby and support these communities during these difficult times. Communities impacted by the war on drugs should not only be actively engaged but actively supported in obtaining funding and resources to succeed and thrive in the legal cannabis industry.
Providing these communities with the opportunity for meaningful participation in the regulated legal cannabis market will further the fight for social equity in this industry. The Massachusetts economic empowerment and social equity program is an example of the first in the nation state-wide program, yet applicants and certificate holders still require additional support. More funding and technical services for the program and participants can help bolster positive outcomes moving forward.
Key existing barriers to entry include: local control, access to capital, and access to technical resources and wrap around services to help applicants succeed.
Those harmed by the war on drugs should be empowered and financed to design programs that work directly for their own communities. Additionally, the traditional/unregulated market consists of some truly innovative pioneers with inimitable experience. Excluding them from the industry will hinder the advancement of the entire industry’s efforts.
3. Academics, policy makers, leaders in the cannabis industry (both regulated and unregulated), clinicians, public health professionals, consumers, and patients alike demonstrated a desire to unite and collaborate to drive change together with C3RN.
Challenges continue to prevent active collaboration among and between these communities due to cannabis being federally illegal - preventing partnerships from occurring. Thoughtful approaches to partnership can drive innovation in Massachusetts and nationally to successfully implement education, research, and social justice models for international replication.
4. There is an appetite and readiness for high-quality cannabis education.
Our experience working with Boston University, UMass Dartmouth, and Holyoke Community College demonstrated that collaborating with existing educational institutions to incorporate cannabis education and research can be effective. By combining industry, community, and academic knowledge and skills, we are able to craft a more wholesome educational experience for students.
While the regulated industry is relatively new, the unregulated market has a wealth of knowledge. By allowing these minds to contribute to cannabis education in Massachusetts and beyond we can add even more perspectives and backgrounds to the conversation.
5. There is a need to invest in cannabis research, but not solely for companies' own financial gain.
Cannabis research agendas are currently woefully underfunded, however, the opportunity exists to broaden the scope of how we assess clinical and public health outcomes, social justice impacts, and serve as a mechanism to hear community and patient voices and concerns, while providing actionable recommendations. C3RN utilized innovative methods to engage academia, patients, consumers, and the industry in research.
However, it was extremely challenging to fundraise for these efforts. Over the last three years, we found a few dedicated individuals and companies who supported our research efforts. However, it was a challenge to convince SOME in the industry to collaborate and financially support the studies we conducted. The industry should be supportive of research and educational efforts as it ultimately helps them, and the border healthcare, patient, consumer and academic communities to have this important community information and data.
Data collected through our studies with UMass Dartmouth and partners were used as a way to drive community awareness, education, and change. And it worked - those models made change locally. Consider funding these types of research programs moving forward to support the growth of the industry as a whole by generating the much needed on the ground data and evidence.
6. There is a need to engage researchers, the industry, and educators in the era of COVID-19
Exploring how the cannabis industry can contribute to the collective fight with COVID-19 will hold clinical, public health, and economic value.
7. Veterans deserve access to medical cannabis, and the federal VA needs to change policy to allow access to alternative treatments.
Through the Veterans Health and Medical Cannabis study launched in 2019, C3RN and partners learned that veterans enjoy a much greater quality of life with cannabis and most are using cannabis as a way to reduce the use of unwanted prescription or over the counter medications.
More work needs to be done to create access for those veterans who choose cannabis as an alternative. Find study results here: www.cannabisadvancementseries.org and www.cannaresearchnetwork.com
8. Community advocacy works!
C3RN, together with colleagues, hosted three press conferences in 2019; two at the Massachusetts state house steps, and one virtually that advocated for: rebuttal to academic prohibition, the Massachusetts Vape Ban, and in support of Massachusetts Hemp Industry through aiding the formation of the Mass Hemp Coalition. We saw change as a result of these efforts, and the efforts of other local advocates who shared their voices. C3RN learned that collective community voices count and can indeed make a measurable difference.
Cannabis community advocates are - like cannabis research companies - either underfunded or lack funds completely. Even more distressing is that often these advocates are expected to work for free, or for very little money. Advocates are some of the most powerful voices in making change for an industry worth billions, and it’s time they start getting the recognition and compensation they deserve.
9. Competition among groups advancing social equity is counter-productive to say the least.
Pitting communities, advocates, industry leaders, policy makers, multi-state operators, and other stakeholders against each other does not work. Organizations within the industry who perpetuate this type of confusion and competition is counter-productive to the meaningful change we all purport to be invested in. If we want an equitable industry to thrive, we need to strive for collaboration rather than cutthroat competition.
10. Despite legalization, racial disparities in arrests continue to exist.
A report released by the ACLU on 4/20/2020 found that people of color are still much more likely to be arrested compared to their white counterparts, despite consumption rates being similar. Countless men and women from historically marginalized communities are still sitting in jail for cannabis while cannabis is deemed an essential business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Massachusetts racial disparities in arrests in fact increased in 2018 from 2010, despite cannabis legalization within that time frame. In Massachusetts, black people are four times more likely to be arrested than their white counterparts in 2018. Source: https://graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/.
In today’s political climate, one thing that has resonated with the C3RN team is the need to eliminate these racial disparities once and for all.