Ben Cohen, who co-founded Ben & Jerry’s ice cream before selling the company to Unilever in 2000, has embarked on a new nonprofit enterprise designed to bring joy and justice to consumers. He launched Ben’s Best Blnz (BBB), a marijuana-retailing nonprofit based in the Greater Burlington, Vermont area. Cohen is a vice president of the organization.
According to the organization’s age-restricted website (https://bensbest.com/), “Our Mission is to sell Great Pot and use the power of our business to Right the Wrongs of the War on Drugs.” As part of its mission, BBB is advocating for releasing anyone incarcerated who has been charged with a non-violent cannabis crime, expunging criminal records for those accused of or convicted of non-violent cannabis crimes and either removing marijuana from the federal government’s list of Schedule 1 drugs or – most likely tongue in cheek – adding beer to the Schedule 1 list.
Organization leaders have pledged to give 80% of its profits to provide grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs through a program administered by the NuLeaf Project (https://nuproject.org/), a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit that funds cannabis businesses owned by people of color. Another 10% of the organization’s profits are earmarked for the last Prisoner Project (https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Denver, Colorado that seeks to free individuals incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses. The last 10% of BBB’s profits will go to the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance (https://www.vtracialjusticealliance.org/), an organization that seeks to “secure sustainable power, ensure agency, and provide security for American Descendants of Slavery, while embracing their history and preserving their culture.”
Ben’s Best Blnz is a new organization and does not yet have profits to put toward its intended grants and low-interest loans program. Nonetheless, organization leaders are committed to providing at least $100,000 to Black cannabis entrepreneurs by the end of its first year in business. Requests for grant or loan applications can be made to NuLeaf Project’s Jeanette Horton ([email protected]).
BBB has already made one low-interest loan, to Houston, Texas-area Natural Mystic, a minority-owned company that produces organic hemp smoking products such as cones and rolling papers. While BBB did not disclose the amount loaned, the organization’s website describes the funds as “expansion capital.: in a post on the BBB website, Natural Mystic owner Keron Ali said “This loan gives us the runway to meet growing customer demand and puts the company significantly closer to realizing my vision of being a global brand.”
