GrowHealthy is proud to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month! September 15th to October 15th is dedicated every year for our nation to celebrate all the ways Hispanics and Hispanic Americans have influenced and enriched our culture, nation, and society. This month is full of family events and performances, from the Young Portrait Explorers at the Smithsonian to the celebration of Latin American and Latinx literature at the Library of Congress.

Hispanic Heritage and Cannabis

In the cannabis industry, celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month also comes with recognizing the persecutions against Hispanics and Hispanic Americans.

Brian Vicente, a founding board member of the National Hispanic Cannabis Council (NHCC), was recently interviewed by Forbes.

In this article, he explains how the prohibition of cannabis in the United States was enforced mainly because of the prejudice toward Mexican immigrants, and this disproportionately impacted the Hispanic community. Further, the prejudice against Hispanics, stemming largely from the War on Drugs, has also impacted the ability for Hispanics to work in the cannabis industry.

“Because of the continued racial disparity in the enforcement of the nation’s drug laws,” Forbes reports, “people of color are more likely to have difficulty passing criminal background checks required by most jurisdictions,” largely due to unjust targeting of their communities and harsher sentences for drug offenses.

As cannabis is becoming legalized for either medical or recreational purposes across the county, Valdez and the National Hispanic Cannabis Council are bringing attention to the underrepresentation of the Hispanic community in the cannabis industry. To counter these barriers, the National Hispanic Cannabis Council is actively working to build a platform that assists Hispanics by providing job training and mentorship opportunities.

The National Hispanic Cannabis Council has a four-part approach to lead Hispanics into success: cannabis medical education, networking, advocacy, and economic business opportunities. Their website offers a plethora of information about terpenes, cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, and medical conditions. The educational materials on their website are open for all to use, and this accessibility betters the cannabis industry as a whole and helps with cannabis advocacy and reform.

The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) is another organization that is dedicated to social justice reform and cannabis advocacy, which includes fighting for Hispanics and Hispanic Americans who are incarcerated for cannabis. To read stories of incarcerated persons and learn about ways to help, visit LPP’s stories page.

We are grateful for the NHCC’s and the LPP’s commitments to recognizing the adversity Hispanics have faced while also pushing through stigmas and prejudices to provide reform, equity, and justice. Donations can be made on their websites, or you can donate to LPP at any GrowHealthy dispensary.

During this month and all year long, GrowHealthy is proud to have Hispanic team members and Hispanic patients. We encourage all our patients to safely attend and participate in some of the National Hispanic Heritage Month organization’s activities and to learn more about Hispanics’ heritage and their abundant contributions to America. For more information, please visit the official National Hispanic Heritage Month’s official website.