WHAT IF WE COULD LEVERAGE CANNABIS FOR GOOD?

80 percent of the wealth in the cannabis industry is concentrated in the hands of the few. This multi hundred dollar market provides an opportunity to create lasting economic change for everyday people, if done properly. Our model turns this centralization of wealth on its head, decentralizing the growing portion of the process, and spreading the wealth amongst the many. We provide Citizens with our hands-off growing box; we control all aspects of the Harvest; and we split the profits with our Citizens. 

In the first green rush, as states began to strike down the prohibition of cannabis, hope spread that this would create economic opportunities for all. But the reality has not lived up to the dream. To this point, the cannabis industry has provided little justice to those who suffered the most from the war on drugs. Instead, all it’s done is make the rich richer.

 Every day, major corporations reap obscene profits from selling their cannabis to disadvantaged communities across the country. Yet, they’ve offered few economic opportunities to uplift and empower those same communities.

Many have taken to the streets to protest. The cries have grown louder for our elected leaders to fix these inequalities. But all we’ve received in return are broken promises and half-measures.

Greed has too often won the day over justice. 

This has to stop. 

Our boxes create a “cannabis basic income” and serve as a conduit for ground-up, community driven social change.  With every step we take, we invest in the community we enter.  We listen to people tell stories not only about why cannabis is important or even necessary to them, but also about their lives in general.  What needs to be done to make their lives better.  

We fight for what’s right, using cannabis as a lense. Is it fair that people are sitting in jail for doing the same thing we are profiting from? Of course it isn’t.  Does it make sense that, because someone is born into poverty, her chances of ever attending an Ivy League school are less than 1%? Absolutely, no.  Does it make sense for a justice system to release people who never should have been imprisoned in the first place without providing support and guidance -- or even the fighting chance at a second shot?  Nope.  Is it right that, if history is any indication and if we don’t do something to stop it, cannabis will go the way of Big Pharma?  Not on our watch.

CitizenGrown addresses all issues of unfairness because we see them so clearly in cannabis. With this clarity comes a fervent belief that, with like-minded people on our team, we are capable of and responsible for building businesses better.  Better for our employees.  For our communities.  For the environment.  For every person our company touches, and every person that person reaches.  

Are we a charity?  If a charity means that we see a need and attempt to address it, then yes.  But not really:  We are a logical extension of free market thinking in an inherently unfair playing field.  Addressing the unfairness makes us more profitable.

Are we a watchdog?  If that entails blowing whistles when necessary, then yes.  But really we just use fairness as a compass and our choices become simple.

Are we “just” a cannabis brand?  If being just a cannabis brand means a purveyor of quality cannabis that we believe in because it springs from our beliefs, then yes.  But we are also a bit of a quiet social justice revolution.

The PURE Model

Provide Income

Our grow box democratizes cannabis; anybody can grow.  Our team and our app ensures the entire process is safe and monitored. Our Citizens simply loan us a small spot of their homes.  Upon Harvest, we take the plants to be processed and, when our CitizenGrown products are sold, we share a percentage of the profits with our Citizens.

Unlock potential

Lifting the veil of educational opportunities is a central tenet of all programs addressing poverty.  We are partnering with top-tier Universities and educational programs to provide guidance in finance, business, and entrepreneurship so that our Citizens can create wealth in any industry.

Reinvest in Communities 

Each community is different.  We hope to provide incremental value to each community we enter, in the form of political reform, neighborhood improvement, and safety.

Expand network

Our Citizens learn and share their experiences in their communities, and online, seeding the idea that cannabis can indeed be a tool for social change.