Ben & Jerry’s Co-founder Forms Cannabis Nonprofit

Published on: April 28, 2023

One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s, Ben Cohen, has started a new social venture in the cannabis industry.

The newest addition to the cannabis industry comes from one of Ben & Jerry’s co-founders, Ben Cohen. Swapping ice cream for cannabis, Ben created “Ben’s Best Blnz”, which is a nonprofit cannabis line with a mission statement hoping to help right the wrongs of the war on drugs (1). On their website (2), it lists that 80% of their profits will be given to grants for African American cannabis entrepreneurs and the rest will then be divided equally between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project.

“The War on Drugs (first so named by President Richard Nixon) has targeted lower income Black and Brown people thru over policing, discriminatory prosecution, and discriminatory sentencing,” the website states (1,2). “That’s why despite using pot at the same rate, Black people are 4 times more likely to be arrested than Whites.”

Ben’s Best Blnz, also known as B3, will license its formulas, trademarks, packaging, and marketing materials to for-profit businesses that pay a royalty. Once expenses are handled, the royalties will be donated to the cause.

The cannabis B3 uses is cultivated in soil that does not use pesticides, herbicides, nonorganic fertilizers, or fungicides (1,2).

Products offered from B3 will include pre-rolled joints containing lower levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and are expected to be available for purchase in Vermont cannabis shops in May.

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