Conversations around social equity continue to be at the forefront of the increasingly booming legislative moves around the country surrounding legal cannabis. As New Jersey looks to continue their journey toward recreational cannabis legalization, a leading cannabis technology company is providing $20,000 grants to five minority-run businesses in the state, hoping to boost their chances of winning licenses to grow and sell cannabis, according to NJ Advance Media.
The company, Cognitive Harmony Technologies (CHT) Accelerator, received a $100,000 fund from Pangaea Health and Wellness to be applied for scholarships that would put five social equity cannabis license applicants in New Jersey through its accelerator program.
The winners of the grants will be selected from a pool of applicants identified by the CHT Accelerator partners, NJ Cannabis Insider and the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce.
“The N.J. State Veterans Chamber of Commerce is actively seeking veterans to qualify for this amazing scholarship with Harvest 360. To date, the state has not awarded any veterans a cannabis license and we are hoping this changes through this scholarship,” said chamber CEO and Founder Jeff Cantor, also a retired US Army colonel.
CHT Accelerator has offices in New Jersey and New York and works as a joint venture by cannabis business veterans and software engineers, alongside Harvest 360 Technologies, a subsidiary of Blue Diamond Ventures Inc.
David Serrano, managing partner for CHT, says that CHT Accelerator was designed by license applicants to level the business playing field as they apply for licenses and operate their cannabis businesses. The grants are designed to expedite applicants’ industry knowledge and improve their chances of entering, and succeeding in, New Jersey’s cannabis industry.
CHT Accelerator boasts training guides and coaching sessions developed by industry progressions to help educate applicants on the processes surrounding applications and business operations.
Serrano says the goal is to enable applicants, who have been negatively impacted by the War on Drugs, the ability to earn top scores and win cannabis licenses in the state. The deadline for application is July 19 at 11:59 p.m.
Pangaea Health is also dedicating 20,000 square feet of space as a cannabis business incubator and education center, looking to provide free support to social equity businesses and microbusinesses, alongside low interest loans, a dispensary accelerator program, employment opportunities, and more.
The state as a whole is working to establish regulations and open up the legal cannabis market, and as neighboring states look to do the same, New Jersey is looking at how to implement their new measures accordingly.
For instance, New York allows adults to cultivate up to six plants, or 12 in a household with more than one adult, while New Jersey’s regulations will deem anyone growing their own cannabis as committing the crime of “cannabis manufacture.”
The help in regard to social equity is also more pertinent in a state like New Jersey, which is capping the number of state growing licenses at 37 through 2023. Some say that number could be too limited as the legal market begins to pick up, and it doesn’t leave a lot of room for leverage in applicants affected by the War on Drugs who may not have the resources other applicants can boast to get ahead.
This is precisely the reason that CHT Accelerator is making the moves they are, according to Larry Frascella, COO of Pangaea Health and Wellness. He says the cannabis license application process is overwhelming, particularly for applicants with limited resources in comparison to more well-established competitors.
“As a New Jersey cannabis license appellant, this donation to CHT Accelerator is follow-through on our supplemental submission commitment to provide free resources to educate minority, women and disabled veteran cannabis license applicants whose representation in the New Jersey cannabis market is required by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (Act),” Frascella said.
