Mission Possible: How LEUNE is Joining The Fight For Cannabis Criminal Justice Reform
ICYMI: The cannabis industry has a problem.
Every 48 seconds, someone is arrested for a cannabis-related “crime” — a reality that still holds true in 2021, even as decriminalization and legalization have rippled across the U.S. According to data from the FBI, over half a million people nationwide were arrested for cannabis-related crimes in 2020 — outpacing the arrests for all other violent crimes combined. To make matters worse, these cannabis charges disproportionately impact communities of color. A 2017 study from the Ford Foundation concluded that Black Americans are as much as 4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white peers. This stings in contrast to the alternate reality reflected by the cannabis market, which continues to see explosive growth in spite of it all.
LEUNE is unwilling to accept this double standard as status quo. While embracing that we may not have all the answers, we at LEUNE understand that our position as a cannabis business is a privileged one — and thus, it’s our responsibility to use our platform to fight against these separate systems of justice. That means a mix of things — advocating, donating, partnering with truly great organizations, and having hard conversations on a day-to-day basis — because there is no one-size-fits-all solution to fixing the pain and trauma that cannabis prohibition has imposed on people for generations.
As part of our intersectional approach, we at LEUNE have an ongoing partnership with Last Prisoner Project, an organization that is fighting to free 40,000 people incarcerated for cannabis. Together, we create informative videos that bring awareness to individuals incarcerated for marijuana-related “crimes.” Take Michael Thompson, for instance: A community organizer and an NAACP award recipient, Thompson became the longest-serving nonviolent offender in Michigan history, serving nearly 25 years for having 3 pounds of marijuana — in a state where weed had been legalized. In July 2020, Leune and the LPP created a now-viral video to bring national attention to his case, with the goal of freeing him from prison. In January 2021, Thompson was granted clemency and released from prison — a huge victory in a seemingly endless uphill battle for justice.
LEUNE’s support for LPP also extends through to its product offering. In January 2021, LEUNE launched Pina DayDream, an all-in-one vape that donates 100% of proceeds directly to the organization. LEUNE is also a member of Broccoli Mag's Floret Coalition — an anti-racist collective of small, cannabis-related businesses that are focused on reversing the effects of the war on drugs on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. We also sponsor Eaze’s business accelerator, Eaze Momentum, which empowers underrepresented business founders with a 12-week mentorship program and crucial funding to kickstart their companies. During the pandemic, LEUNE continually participated in “Growth From Home” — a YouTube series that spotlights conversations on cannabis justice reform between people of interest in the cannabis space, including our Founder and CEO, Nidhi Lucky Handa.
There’s a lot more we could say on this subject, but to keep it brief, our philosophy is all about willingness to stand up and show up. Sure, LEUNE is a tiny brand — and as such, it’d be easy to say that we can’t make a big difference. Instead, we believe that it takes everyone making a small, imperfect effort, not waiting for one person or power to make a large, perfect one. We understand that cannabis reform is a major conquest — and we’ll keep showing up, staying vocal, and giving back for as long as that takes.