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‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVIII • Number 9
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CLOCKS AHEAD 1 HOUR
SATURDAY NIGHT
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • March 6, 2019
Groups
align
against I-5
expansion
See Local New, page 3
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Nicole Kennedy brings diversity to the new legal cannabis industry by running the Green Hop marijuana dispensary on Northeast Killingsworth Street with her business
partner Karanja Crews (not pictured). The hip-hop themed weed shop is one of two African-American owned businesses in Portland operating with support from
the city’s cannabis tax specifically meant to bolster cannabis entrepreneurs from communities of color that were disproportionately and negatively affected by the
criminalization of marijuana in the past.
of
A Reversal Fortunes
Making sure the
new business side
of pot is diverse
by D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
The rise and support for two black-
owned Portland businesses in the new legal
cannabis industry shows how the city is
fulfilling its restorative justice and repara-
tions goals to mitigate past harms done in
communities of color from America’s his-
toric war on pot.
In the first year that Portland’s trail blaz-
ing cannabis tax revenue policy has been in
effect, two African American-owned mar-
ijuana businesses have received financial
support for specific programs that can help
them get a leg up in a new industry that is
overwhelmingly dominated by whites.
Green Hop, a dispensary in northeast
Portland and incubator for cannabis pro-
fessionals of color; and Green Box, the first
legal cannabis subscription box delivery
service to get officially licensed in Port-
land, each received $30,000 grants from
the tax revenue.
It’s a move City Commissioner Chloe
Eudaly called “just one step toward tangi-
ble restorative justice.”
Nicole Kennedy, the co-owner of Green
Hop, told the Portland Observer the grant
C ontinueD on p age 6