Cookies was the highest scoring cannabis company in a recent social responsibility report by nonprofit Cage-Free Repair.
Cannabis nonprofit Cage-Free Repair released its 2023 Cannabis Social Responsibility Report, which evaluates the social and environmental initiatives of 20 leading cannabis businesses as well as the industry as a whole. The annual report uses a comprehensive rubric to evaluate businesses on their publicly stated social responsibility initiatives based on their publicly disclosed practices. The goal of the report is to quantify the impact of a cannabis company’s socially equitable behavior, scoring them on a scale of -1 to 3 across 10 categories representing a company’s distributive justice, which measures attempts for future equity, and its retributive justice, which measures attempts to rectify past inequities.
The industry as a whole, did not do well, scoring 7.1 out of a possible 30 points. The report states the overall industry has “chosen to partner with Black and Brown faces for the benefit of public relations” in lieu of addressing the problems that stem from the War on Drugs.
“This project was a chance for me to play a part in shaping the change I wanted to see in the industry,” project researcher Justice Wahid Cotton said in a press release. “Social responsibility won’t just happen on its own. It requires intentional actions to ensure these values are upheld. It takes even more effort to ensure follow-through and to constantly assess if these actions produce the desired outcomes.”
The vast majority of companies evaluated also received low scores with only Cookies (24 points) and Green Thumb Industries (18) receiving scores higher than 15 out of 30. The worst was Hyman Life, a Michigan-based producer that scored a 0.
The 20 evaluated cannabis companies and their scores are as follows: Cookies (24), Green Thumb Industries (18), Curaleaf (14), Cresco Labs (13), Canopy Growth (11), Trulieve (10), The Parent Company (10), Tilray (7), Aurora (6), High Tide (6), Green Organic Dutchman (4), Greenlane (4), Hexo Corp (4), Charlotte’s Web Holdings (3), Jushi Holdings (2), Innovative Industrial Properties (2), Dro (2), Organigram (1/30), 710 Labs (1) and Hyman Life (0).
“It’s disheartening to see companies parade Black and Brown faces, celebrating our worth, yet turning a blind eye to our communities,” said project researcher Cameron Gaskin. “An industry that rose on our shoulders now uses us as mere billboards.”