Let's bend the arc towards Equal Justice

tldr; happy 4th of July - too many Americans aren't free. This weekend bud.com is matching donations to Equal Justice Initiative.

A few weeks ago we watched as Americans confronted each other in the streets. Some members of our team and their families marched in solidarity: we agree with the cries to value black lives and to hold our justice system accountable.

People handling cannabis have been at the receiving end of aggressive policing for decades. Certain communities, particularly black and latino communities, were targeted by police representing the predominately white lawmakers who initially criminalized marijuana plant medicine. Now formal regulations allow companies like bud.com to sell cannabis proudly in public, online even. As our weed delivery business takes shape, we have a special obligation to pay back for the costs of the war on drugs. Decades of locking up people for what is now legal has limited the potential for generations of black and brown entrepreneurs.

We looked at charities that specifically focus on healing drug war and cannabis prohibition wounds. But there's a bigger problem out there: the creeping reach of the carceral state. For too many people beyond pot the tools of government are punitive and not enabling. The deep unrest roiling our country will only come to calm through challenging interventions to improve our collective conduct. Since our justice system is a reflection of our values made into rules, it is critical that we live up to our best values of equality. Beyond bud, everyone deserves quality justice.

Equal Justice Initiative is working to establish the basic rules of fairness and equality under law. Based in Montgomery Alabama, EJI has the nation's deep economic roots in slavery just underfoot as they work to help the wrongly convicted and the poor get access to effective legal representation.

This Independence Day weekend you can elect to add a donation to the Equal Justice Initiative to your purchase. bud.com will be matching those donations. We went looking for a charity making a direct impact on a serious sustained social ill. We believe Equal Justice Initiative is part of the solution to addressing America's racist past and building a better more equal future.

Update:

We ran this campaign to raise money for the Equal Justice Initiative over the Independence Day weekend. Across our locations, 31% of bud shoppers elected to make a donation to support EJI with us. This is much higher than we had expected; we were delighted and humbled by our customers' participation.