High & Mighty: Cannabis Brands Doing Good

There are a host of new cannabis companies making sure the communities most harmed by the war on drugs will actually have an opportunity to benefit from legalization. Here are six to get you shopping—and smoking—sustainably.

Photography by Maren Caruso, Styling by Alicia Deal

As part of REP CO’s mission to disseminate and elevate the stories of our subjects, we are proud to partner with The San Francisco Chronicle on the publication of this piece. You can find this story in the Sunday print edition on April 18, 2021.

The legal cannabis industry isn’t merely budding. It’s. BLOWING. UP. Several reports claim it’s positioned to be worth $50 billion by 2026. But as big as it’s potential is, it’s got an even bigger problem. It’s an industry that’s making mostly white men very, very wealthy. All the while, thanks to the American political scam known as ‘the war on drugs,’ there are still an estimated 40,000 people locked up in jail for marijuana offenses, a disproportionate number of whom are Black and Latinx. And the harm doesn’t stop there. While selling the beloved green plant is raking in a lot of green, the resource-heavy process of cultivating it, packaging it and selling it is anything but. Thankfully, there are more and more companies popping up who are rooted in ethical and equitable practices of cultivation and distribution—and making sure the communities most harmed by the war on drugs will actually have an opportunity to benefit from legalization. And consumers can help propel the industry in the right direction by supporting the companies doing it right.

But like nearly every shopping experience these days, it can feel overwhelming to sort through the claims and see through the buzzy advertisements to determine which brands are truly practicing what they preach. Kelly Perez and Courtney Mathis founded kindColorado in 2015 in part to help solve that problem. Their mission is to positively impact communities that have been systemically underserved and oppressed while also shaping the cannabis industry’s evolving story by supporting and spotlighting brands with a shared ethos. kindColorado affirms, “We believe this industry has the profound ability to create a confluence of economic, social, and political change. That cannabis businesses can—and should—do good.”

What started as a consulting agency in the cannabis sector, kindColorado didn’t want to just work within the industry to encourage cannabis companies to adopt ethical practices, they wanted to also set a standard for social responsibility that could be recognized externally, by consumers who care. This idea turned into Cannabis Doing Good, an organization which they co-founded two years ago.

And now, they plan to pass that knowledge onto consumers by creating the Cannabis Doing Good standard—a certification and labeling system that will make it easy to identify purpose-driven cannabis brands. “There are companies who absolutely deserve and have been upholding Cannabis Doing Good values for the entirety of their business careers. What we're doing is naming it, lifting it up telling its story and magnifying it—to inspire the other retailers and brands and ancillary companies to do the same exact things. To say it is possible to do good and be abundant and repair harm to communities from the drug war. To repair our planet and to care for our people. These things are not mutually exclusive. And we can do it together.”

“There's a deep, deep desire for a purpose-driven community to exist, and for them to be given a platform to interact with and support one another. And that's really we hope Cannabis Doing Good will achieve.”

The Cannabis Doing Good standard, which they plan to officially launch in May, recognizes companies making an impact in three areas: community, sustainability, and equity. To celebrate these efforts, the organization presents annual awards to deserving brands. The Good Neighbor award celebrates community engagement programs. The Love Your Planet award is designated for those who do their best to reduce their carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, and protect our water, air and soil systems. The Change Maker award recognizes those working toward justice and equity in the industry.

With over 15 years of experience in non-profit consulting, Mathis is clear on the specific issues that the growth of the cannabis industry presents, and laser-focused on solutions to effect change. “This industry is built on the backs of Black and Brown people. We understand that all communities should benefit from this cultural sea change, but that it isn't going to equitably benefit folks unless we set it up that way. And we understand the Earth's resources are limited, and we've got to be responsible. The end result of the Cannabis Doing Good standard is to actually tell consumers and patients that they have a lot of power in their dollar. And using your dollar to support brands that align with your values is how you influence the market. It's how we actually create an industry that is founded on values and people and planet.”

To get you started shopping—and smoking—sustainably, here are six cannabis brands that Perez and Mathis of Cannabis Doing Good personally recommend for their exceptional practices around equity, community and sustainability.

SF Roots

Fewer than 5% of cannabis companies in the US are Black owned. In efforts to lower barriers for licensing for those hit hardest by the war on drugs, the city of San Francisco has developed a Cannabis Equity Program. One of the first companies to come from the program is SF Roots, by founder and CEO Morris Kelly, who is one of the few to successfully go from convicted felon to legal cannabis business owner. Kelly shares about his experience, “One of the issues for me was my criminal record. I was fighting a trafficking case and I think that was probably one of the hardest things for me, having to put my trust in a system that has never really been for me before. And now, we’re heavily involved in the community, mentoring, advising and supporting other equity applicants that are trying to come in alongside us.” Kelly’s been able to build a beloved line of flower, pre-rolls, tinctures and apparel, available at over 40 retailers throughout the state. He encourages cannabis consumers to be conscious of which brands they shop. “The easiest step is really just finding out about the brands that you're supporting. Your purchasing dollar goes a long way. When you support a company like SF Roots or another social equity company, you're supporting the community instead of just like, a corporation with an endless burn rate. I think that’s an important notion to point out. A lot of the companies love to wave a big fancy banner, but then, they're not really doing that much good. They're more focused on extracting capital, as opposed to creating generational wealth and communities.”

Shop SF Roots here: sfroots.com

Osanyin

Oakland, California is home to one of the most unique Cannabis companies around. Founders Esailama Artry-Diouf and Shiree Dyson believe in collective healing and empowerment through cannabis and the arts. Osayin offers an extensive variety of brands as well as a line of cannabis flowers and pre-rolls they cultivate onsite in Oakland. As an African-Diasporic, artist- and women-owned company, Osanyin has become a lifestyle brand that is as conscious as it is cool.

“Black people have operated in this industry globally for a long time and have been judged, oppressed and marginalized within the industry,” says Artry-Diouf. “Some of our employees have been incarcerated because they've participated within this industry. So part of our movement has been how can we shift the narrative about what we call the legacy market, a.k.a illegal, offer mentorship and commit to a regulated market?”

One answer they came up with was committing to only stocking other equity brands. “We only carry equity brands, and a large majority of our business is done with other equity partners. We only do business with people who are like-minded in this movement,” says Dyson. Another answer to how Osanyin shifts the narrative is their focus on developing and implementing their own in-house seeds and strains through Osanyin’s partnership with Grasshopper Genetics. “For us it is the people power as well as the product power. We put our money where our mouth is in terms of not only building a business that is for and by us, but we reinvest within the communities in which we come from and that we represent.” says Dyson.

Shop Osanyin here: osanyinllc.com

The People’s Dispensary

After being sick for 3 years, seeing 22 doctors in 2 different states and having no real diagnosis, Christine De La Rosa survived a life threatening pulmonary embolism back in 2010, and was finally diagnosed with systemic Lupus. For years, she was prescribed more than 10 pills a day, including opioids. Then one day, her friend, a chef, Charleen Caabay gave her homemade edibles to try. “I took it that night, and I had the best sleep I'd had probably in the last two or three years because my pain was just so intense. When I woke up, I felt like I had actually had restful sleep. So that was my first foray into using cannabis as medicine. And I started to really be thoughtful about it,” says De La Rosa. But when De La Rosa and Caabay looked at the cannabis industry, they didn’t see anyone who looked like themselves. Self-identifying as people of color, women, queer, disabled, veterans, formerly incarcerated, and living with chronic illness. They each have a deeply personal connection to cannabis, so feeling personally represented was important.

Together, along with a collective of community co-founders and supporters, they founded The People’s Dispensary—a cannabis delivery service based in Oakland. While headquarters later moved up north to Portland, Oregon and expansion plans were temporarily stymied due to the pandemic, delivery services have recently launched in other parts of the U.S., including San Francisco and Oakland. And The People’s Dispensary will be adding their own line of products over the next few months.

“The cannabis industry is one of the only industries I can think of in the 20th century that was actually built by Black and Brown people—as owners and operators, not only as laborers—in the informal market, and has been stolen in the formal market by white corporations,” says De La Rosa. “If you're someone who supports BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+ people, and you support cannabis, then you should demand that there'll be equal representation in the industry.”

De La Rosa and Caabay take the lessons they’ve learned while building their own successful business and share them with others facing the same challenges. As a part of their work, they advise other brands in the industry, all of whom are women or BIPOC-owned brands. Caabay believes consumers can contribute to this work by shopping with their own values in mind. The People’s Dispensary has a wide variety of offerings including: flower, pre-rolls, vaporizers, concentrates, edibles, topicals and more. Their very own line, The People’s Cannabis, which will include flower, pre-rolls and gummies, will be launching soon in California, Oregon, Arizona, Michigan and Massachusetts, and will come in sustainable cannabis packaging from Sana Packaging, made using 100% plant-based hemp plastic, 100% reclaimed ocean plastic, and other sustainable materials.

Shop The People’s Dispensary here: thepeoplesdispensary.com

Dogwood Botanicals

Dogwood Botanicals is a woman owned business in the Bay-area by way of East Tennessee. It’s founders, Katie Pilgrim and Jamie Boling, have a combined 14 years of experience in the cannabis industry, but teamed up to bring hemp products to consumers. Their offerings include a Calendula Rose CBD cream and flavorless CBD drops. The two friends turned business partners are working to demystify CBD to consumers and promote it’s wellness benefits. “I think that CBD has been a really great entry point for so many folks who maybe never had access to cannabis, never even tried it and were afraid to, and now are able to try a couple drops of something like our flavorless CBD drops and find that they're taking care of their system in a way that they hadn't before. Our bodies have an endocannabinoid system that is made to receive and process cannabinoids, which our body makes internally in the form of endocannabinoids. And we find externally in plants beyond just cannabis,” explains Boling. With a heavy focus on ethical practices, the Dogwood Botanicals product line uses hemp that is grown and manufactured on an organic family farm in Colorado. All shipping materials and paper products used are biodegradable and sourced from 100% recycled materials. In addition to their eco-friendly practices, they also donate 1% of all profits to organizations working toward equity such as the Equity First Alliance.

Shop Dogwood Botanicals here: dogwoodbotanicals.com

Terrapin Care Station

Terrapin Care Station is proof that big doesn’t have to mean bad. The sizable corporation cultivates and provides both medial and retail cannabis products and boasts competitive prices and high quality. They offer an extensive variety, including flower, vape, topicals, tinctures, edibles and more. What really sets them apart though, is not what they sell or do, but how. Based in Boulder, Colorado, the company has always placed a strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility, and is hailed as a leader in doing so. “It’s very important to us to be actively engaged in our communities and be responsible community members making a positive impact,” explains their Communications Director, Peter Marcus. “Our corporate social responsibility program is called Terrapin for the People, where we focus on five pillars that have direct or incidental connections to cannabis: arts and culture, veterans issues, political advocacy, justice initiatives, and human needs.” Besides social responsibility being a major priority, Terrapin is also focused on keeping their operations as eco-friendly as possible. While they are growing in size, they are still independently owned by founder Chris Woods, who prioritizes sustainability at every turn.

“We're recreating the sun indoors for life,” says Marcus. “So it’s a heavy carbon footprint industry. Early on we switched to LED lighting for vegetative growth. When it comes to water usage, we try to reclaim where we can. With energy, we're in the process of working with Jack's Solar Garden, where we're going to be offsetting some of our energy use by purchasing renewable solar energy credits through generating solar on this farm in Boulder, which is very cool. We're finally getting there as an industry, where the technology is meeting the demands so that we can take aggressive steps to really be sustainable. And that's a core mission for us.”

Shop Terrapin Care Station here: terrapincarestation.com

Photography by Maren Caruso, Styling by Alicia Deal

Brother David’s

It’s fitting that Brother David’s was launched on Earth Day in 2019, because the brand is totally obsessed with doing right by the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Founded by David Bronner, grandson of the iconic Dr. Bronner, whose organic, All-One soap you’re likely familiar with, Brother David’s is a social venture that is one of a kind and leading the way for a more sustainable and equitable future for cannabis. It’s the first non-profit in the industry to donate 100% of proceeds to charity. You read that right. 100%. It’s also the first to receive Sun + Earth certification, which means that the cannabis is grown under the sun, in the soil and chemical-free, by fairly paid farmers. “We're focused on giving away all of our profits. But it's specific to the cannabis industry. All the profits support small scale family farms, cannabis farms, that are farming regeneratively and organically. But then as the income streams grow, we'll tackle larger issues around criminal justice and drug policy reform.” You better believe this family-owned business isn’t just blowing smoke. The Bronner’s have already donated over $60 million to activist causes, including over $5 million to fight prohibition of cannabis on the state and federal level. Their line of goods, including Magic Melon, Purple Sorbet and Orange Valley Sun can be purchased in ⅛ oz. jars, 1 gram jars, and pre-rolled joints.

Shop Brother David’s here: brotherdavids.com