New program aims to get minorities more involved in New Jersey's cannabis industry
Class was in session on the second floor of an office space near the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City on a hot July day.
But it was not just any summer school. The students gathered were learning the fine art of budtending.
Budtending?
The students are the inaugural attendees of the Minority Cannabis Academy, a new training organization based in Jersey City set up to teach technical skills to BIPOC individuals (Black, Indigenous people of color) wanting to work in the cannabis industry.
Classes started last month and run until early September. Twenty-five people are learning how to work in a dispensary or retail location selling medical or recreational cannabis —the job of a budtender. Also, they learn about cultivation and entrepreneurship from industry experts.
Paterson native Robert Isaiah, a retired IT professional who resides in Newark, said he does not plan to open a dispensary, because of the operating expense, or to work in one, because of previous marijuana possession charges. However, he plans to take what he learns to inform others about the intricacies of the industry, he said.
“If I can teach others and train others based on getting expertise here, it is a win-win situation for me,” Isaiah said
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Getting a foot in the cannabis business
Stanley Okoro and Brendon Robinson, who both hail from outside Trenton, are the co-founders of the organization, which formed earlier this year. Both spoke to the USA TODAY Network about their work helping people get a foot in the cannabis industry, where there is very little BIPOC representation.
A report last year by the cannabis information website Leafly found that Black people accounted for 1.2% to 1.7% of business owners in this booming industry. Legal sales of marijuana are expected to top $33 billion by the end of 2022, according to a new study by MJBiz.
Analysts estimate that in New Jersey, where legal selling commenced in April, it could be a $2 billion market by 2025.
But it is an industry that has shut out those who have been most affected by unjust marijuana laws across the country. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a 2020 report that Black people are "3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession.”
Robinson, who has a banking background, said he and Okoro created the academy “by accident” after holding an event in Newark under their cannabis lifestyle company, 420NJEvents, where there was a presentation on how to open a dispensary in New Jersey.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘Holy cow! How are we going to do this?’ When I say ‘we’ — the Black and brown community. So we decided to create the Minority Cannabis Academy and really give folks an ecosystem to help them get into the cannabis industry.”
According to a state database, 26 cannabis dispensaries operate in New Jersey, the majority of them selling both medicinal and recreational marijuana. Jersey City has approved so far at least eight applicants to open dispensaries in the city. And just in the past week, four more were approved, including one to be operated by rapper and actor Ice-T as part of a partnership, according to various reports. All these businesses also have to be licensed by the state.
Okoro said the students are all learning for free and were recruited from Jersey City, Newark and Irvington. The organization also partnered with Harmony Dispensary, which lent them the use of the Jersey City space, and the Oregon-based cannabis tech company Dutchie, which is providing free laptops to the students.
The goal also is to place the students in positions based on interest in a particular emphasis, whether budtending, cultivation or entrepreneurship, Okara said.
Jersey City resident Diana Chica said she saw an ad for the academy on Instagram and thought about working in the cannabis industry to serve others like herself who use marijuana for medicinal purposes.
“People think about marijuana or cannabis to be something that is stigmatized, but it’s a medicine for a lot of us,” Chica said. “There’s a lot of individuals that don’t have the right information, and they’re scared to ask for this help.”
The organizers said they plan to hold classes sometime next year, as they received about 200 applications and hope to open other branches of the academy in South Jersey.
Ricardo Kaulessar is a culture reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Atlantic Region How We Live team. For unlimited access to the most important news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com
Twitter: @ricardokaul
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ legal weed jobs program aims to recruit more minorities
