Cresco Labs Inc reported assisting more than 1000 expungement seekers. Green Thumb Industries Inc contributed opening day proceeds from 4 store launches toward the Last Prisoner Project and Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, and Cresco Labs Inc collected donations at 1 store for the Last Prisoner Project. Cannabis companies developed initiatives nominally promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. These initiatives involved diversifying cannabis industry employment and promoting special populations .Both activities expanded industry involvement in communities through hiring, goodwill, and creating local retailers. Five companies reported internal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Canopy Growth Corporation planned to create diversity benchmarks and report its progress; we were unable to verify whether they implemented those plans. Curaleaf Holdings Inc created internal employee resource groups for minority, LGBTQ+ , parent, and female employees and established a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force. Green Thumb Industries Inc stated it would cultivate a diverse culture and workforce through equitable employment, salary, and promotional efforts; we did not find implemented plans. Innovative Industrial Properties established a diversity, equality, and inclusion policy but reported no activities. Trulieve established a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force to build its workforce, partnerships, and events and diversify product suppliers. Trulieve planned involvement in work fairs and internships to create a more diverse workforce and to train its employees in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cresco Labs Inc hosted a business workshop with Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency as part of the agency’s social equity program. Green Thumb Industries Inc and Cresco Labs Inc used business incubators and licensing programs to help underrepresented groups establish businesses.
Cresco Labs Inc held 13 incubator events in Illinois during 2019 and 2020 that served 255 people and 50 businesses,indoor plant table contributing 2062 staff hours and spending more than $775 000 on licensing fees and incubator events. Curaleaf Holdings Inc partnered with 1 minority-owned business and Women Grow, an organization supporting women in the cannabis industry, as part of its 420 × 25 supplier diversity initiative seeking to secure 420 product suppliers from underrepresented demographic groups in the cannabis industry by 2025. Columbia Care107 planned to partner with businesses owned by members of minority groups and women to support social equity initiatives in Illinois and helped 2 social equity license applicants there develop applications with diversity and community engagement plans after purchasing minority stakes in their enterprises. Trulieve and Cresco Labs Inc132 sponsored the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Cannabis Equity Initiative seeking to increase Black employment in the cannabis industry. Trulieve provided $15 000 for internships and $20 000 for scholarships administered by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the largest Black college organization serving 47 member institutions, to prepare students for cannabis industry careers. Trulieve and Cresco Labs Inc claimed involvement with National Cannabis Roundtable efforts emphasizing improving industry equity. Four companies promoted to special populations by partnering with nonprofits, participating in events, and fundraising using special products. Canopy Growth Corporation and Trulieve sponsored or participated in LGBTQ celebrations. Trulieve sold special edition products, including limited edition Pride products and TruSwag, to raise funds for LGBTQ organizations. Curaleaf Holdings Inc contributed to social justice, equity, and women’s organizations, and Canopy Growth Corporation and Green Thumb Industries Inc participated in campaigns addressing systemic racism, usually with business coalitions.
Seven companies made charitable contributions at national, state, and local levels . Canopy Growth Corporation’s national efforts focused on fundraising for education, breast cancer,mental health, and veterans. Curaleaf Holdings Inc targeted breast cancer, selling pink “Pre-rolls With a Purpose” and pink vaporizer pens with plans to dedicate some proceeds to breast cancer nonprofit organizations in 9 states. Curaleaf Holdings Inc joined the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise funds for research and treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sold limited edition Rhythm for a Cause vaporizer pens through its dispensaries, and partnered with organizations in 3 states to promote breast cancer awareness. Green Thumb Industries Inc indicated it would donate store opening proceeds to the National Giving Alliance, dedicated to helping low-income and homeless persons. Green Thumb Industries Inc donated more than $34 000 from Dogwalker product sales to 5 animal shelters and partnered with American Corporate Partners, an organization helping veterans transition to civilian life. Grow Generation Corp announced a partnership with Whole Food’s Whole Cities Foundation to donate hydroponics to local community gardens in the US. As part of Cresco Lab Inc’s Make a Difference initiative, employees participated in 75 activities that the company claimed benefitted more than 50 communities across 8 states. Five companies assisted COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts during 2020. Canopy Growth Corporation gave $20 000 to Wounded Warriors Canada’s trauma therapy programs and its mental health assistance related to COVID-19. Canopy Growth Corporation also donated personal protective equipment, converted facilities to produce hand sanitizer, and gave Ontario, Canada, 40 000 surgical masks and 25 000 N95 masks. Canopy Growth Corporation’s subsidiary BioSteel Sports Nutrition Inc contributed $2 million in hydration mix to US and Canadian emergency workers.176-178 Curaleaf Holdings Inc gave frontline workers food. Trulieve donated more than 150 computers to assist distance learning in racial and ethnic minority communities.
Cresco Labs Inc pledged to hire 250 COVID-19–affected workers, and stated it would pay employees extra during the pandemic. Grow Generation Corp pledged as much as $500 000 in equipment to communities and customers affected by COVID-19. Canopy Growth Corporation, Curaleaf Holdings Inc, Green Thumb Industries Inc, Innovative Industrial Properties, and Trulieve announced or participated in local philanthropic initiatives, including job training, community causes, food banks, homeless shelters, women’s services, a campaign to raise funds for Ronald McDonald charities in Canada , animal shelters, veteran organization, a reforestation organization, housing, and social equity and antipoverty nonprofits. Curaleaf Holdings Inc and Green Thumb Industries Inc planned or claimed to donate proceeds from retail store openings to local charities. Two companies incorporated their CSR programs, with Curaleaf Holdings Inc announcing it would contribute to Black Owned Maine’s family relief program as part of its Rooted in Good platform and store opening, and to food charities as part of its Feed the Block initiative. Trulieve employees locally volunteered for its Make a Difference initiative. Two companies promoted cannabis’ medical utility . Canopy Growth Corporation funded research investigating whether medical cannabis treated sleep disorders or mental health conditions. Canopy Growth Corporation and Columbia Care funded studies on whether cannabis could serve as therapy for opioid misuse or an alternative pain treatment.Canopy Growth Corporation offered cannabis education programs for physicians from at least 2016 to 2019 and partnered with the Canadian AIDS Society, an organization representing local Canadian AIDS and HIV groups, to develop medical cannabis treatment protocols for chronic pain. Canopy Growth Corporation partnered with the Beckley Foundation, a drug reform and psychedelic research think tank, to form Beckley Canopy Therapeutics to research cannabis based medicines. Three companies sought expanded medical access. Curaleaf Holdings Inc planned to fund the Veterans Cannabis Project, a nonprofit organization increasing veteran access to medical cannabis, by dedicating proceeds from branded prerolls. The nonprofit identified Curaleaf Holdings Inc as 1 of 3 partners. Canopy Growth Corporation funded a national patient survey conducted in July and August 2020 in partnership with Medical Cannabis Canada, a volunteer-run medical cannabis access nonprofit. Canopy Growth Corporation sought the survey to lower medical use barriers and gain access to academic institution, hydroponics flood table nonprofit organizations, and government officials. Three companies used CSR activities that they claimed combatted youth use or drugged driving . Cronos Group Inc and Cresco Labs Inc developed marketing regulations that they claimed reduced advertising exposure and appeal to youths. Canopy Growth Corporation developed youth prevention materials with Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Parent Action on Drugs. Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy was a former chapter of international grassroots drug policy reform organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Parent Action on Drugs, which was created in 1983 to prevent use of drugs and alcohol by youths, disbanded in 2019 due to insufficient funding. Canopy Growth Corporation framed its youth prevention programming as helping youths and “young adults make healthy, responsible decisions on the use of cannabis.” Canopy Growth Corporation also partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada to sponsor advertisements discouraging cannabis-influenced driving. Six companies claimed they were mitigating their environmental impacts by reducing product waste and pollution. Curaleaf Holdings Inc formed a sustainability committee. Trulieve and GrowGeneration Corp were among 17 cofounders of the Sustainable Cannabis Coalition trade association. In 2019, Canopy Growth Corporation partnered with recycling company TerraCycle to pilot a recycling program for cannabis packaging in Canada, collecting more than 1 million pieces of waste. In 2020, Canopy Growth Corporation and Cronos Group Inc piloted a program with the Cannabis Council of Canada to collect cannabis vaping devices for recycling.Curaleaf Holdings Inc and Green Thumb Industries Inc listed sustainability as CSR program pillars. Innovative Industrial Properties, which sells real estate to medical cannabis companies,claimed it was sustainable because it reused existing properties over construction.
Our results suggest CSR activities of cannabis companies are similar to those of the tobacco industry, which enabled the latter to recruit customers and allies, encourage consumption, expand markets, legitimize its product, and deter regulation. Cannabis company donations to and partnerships with advocacy organizations could generate goodwill and consumption among minority and LGBTQ+ communities, a tactic tobacco companies have used to market to those groups. Collaboration with and funding of advocacy organizations have also been used historically by tobacco companies to form partnerships that allowed them to build policy coalitions supporting their agenda . Cannabis companies also created business partnerships that could expand their reach. Although social equity programs developed by state governments allocate licenses to communities and individuals impacted by criminalization, they often impose regulatory and financial barriers. Proof currently exists that some cannabis companies assisted social equity license applicants in exchange for control of proposed businesses, providing the businesses with increased market access. Cannabis companies have publicized CSR activities similar to those of the tobacco industry, which has previously used such concerns to generate reasons for policy engagement with government officials. Industry research on cannabis as an opioid substitute and to treat mental health disorders and insomnia mirrored tobacco industry pharmaceuticalization, the strategy of selling nicotine replacement therapy to legitimize tobacco company products as therapeutic. Pharmaceuticalization may normalize and promote cannabis as a health or medical treatment akin to the tobacco industry’s sale of nicotine replacement therapy, possibly providing cannabis companies additional markets to increase consumption and profits. Cannabis company CSR activities regarding youth prevention, cannabis-influenced driving, and sustainability shared commonalities with CSR activities of the tobacco industry, portraying companies as addressing harmful business effects while sidestepping concerns. The tobacco industry has used youth prevention, marketing, and environmental CSR programs to displace effective educational programs and regulation. Cannabis companies stated that youth prevention programming helped prevent preteen cannabis use without messaging against consumption and promoted recycling while avoiding occupational risks arising from workplace exposure to toxins and secondhand smoke exposure where cannabis is consumed. Prevention programming directed at youths by the tobacco industry was historically less effective than government prevention programming and promoted youth consumption via forbidden fruit messaging. In the US, youths had a 12.8% rate of current cannabis use compared with 15.4% rate of electronic cigarette use and a 3.3% rate of combustible cigarette use in January through June 2021. These higher prevalence rates warrant public health messaging that discourages use and avoids normalizing consumption. Cannabis industry promotion of recycling and sustainability programs may divert attention from adoption of regulations preventing harmful environmental pollution. A comparable case is tobacco industry campaigns encouraging individuals to pick up cigarette butts, the largest source of litter globally, rather than accepting responsibility for manufacturing products that are not environmentally sustainable and modifying production practices.This study has some limitations. We included cannabis companies with the largest market capitalizations, which are not necessarily reflective of the entire industry. The publicly available materials included in our analysis are likely incomplete. We excluded video broadcasts and social media posts, potentially affecting our results because social media platforms are used by companies to advertise as well as promote their CSR activities. Despite these limitations, our findings provide detail on CSR strategies pursued by cannabis companies, including similarities with tobacco companies. Further study is warranted regarding cannabis companies’ use of CSR to influence regulation, improve public image, and secure market access.