Finding BIPOC cannabis businesses was difficult; a few businesses can be found in the Portland area, but outside of that, there’s not much. I found articles detailing dispensaries and a few cannabis businesses that have since closed down, resulting in nearly as many closed BIPOC cannabis businesses as open ones. However, what I did find was promising.
Green Muse, a Black-owned dispensary in Portland, focuses on cannabis culture, educating customers, and promoting safe, sustainable, high-quality cannabis production. Their website says they strive to “acknowledge those that came before us and empowered us to own our future and create a cannabis culture we believe in.” This includes their industry-leading certification process with two levels: approved, which screens to reduce exposure to chemicals or contaminants, and certified, which requires a strict set of growing standards ranging from natural cultivation to vegan ingredients while checking for ethical and sustainable business practices.
Also in Portland is the first Native-owned dispensary in Oregon, Natural Wonders. Their tagline for their dispensary, found on their website and social media, is “Your budtender’s favorite dispensary”. They also offer a selection of premium, sustainably sourced options from local Oregon producers. Their website explains that their roots are in medicinal cannabis, and the majority of their producers started out in the medical cannabis industry exclusively. The Natural Wonders website highlights a commitment to creating healthy relationships with the environment.
The last dispensary is Club Sky High, a family-owned Black business, with a farm in Southern Oregon and an indoor facility in North Portland to ensure high-quality products. They started as a medical dispensary like Natural Wonders and have shown a commitment to giving back to the St. Johns community.
Magic Hour Cannabis, “one of the only minority-run and women-owned & operated cannabis businesses in the country,” according to their website. They, like Green Muse and Natural Wonders, have a focus on sustainability, ethical practices, diverse hiring, and educating the community about cannabis, all with a focus on disenfranchised populations. They showcase current strains on their website, alongside merchandise and dispensaries that sell their products.
Although the number of BIPOC-owned cannabis businesses in Oregon is small, there are opportunities for BIPOC people looking to get into the cannabis industry, such as NuProject, a Portland-based company that supports cannabis businesses with grants and loans. They have a clear goal emphasized across their website: “help historically-excluded entrepreneurs build generational wealth.” In fact, in 2020, Green Muse, Natural Wonders, and Magic Hour all received equity grants from a partnership between NuProject and Prosper Portland (an economic and urban development agency). Continued efforts such as this will help grow the number of BIPOC-owned businesses and opportunities within the cannabis industry.
