The Global Cannabis Partnership: A Platform for Responsibility

By Kim Wilson, Executive Director, Global Cannabis Partnership

In less than a month, Canada will become the first G7 country to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis from production to consumption. It’s an exciting time in the cannabis industry nationally and across the globe as more jurisdictions follow the path Canada is forging.

But despite these noble efforts, we know that a regulated recreational model will present challenges and risks to those involved, from the private sector and government agencies to regulators and interest groups. There will be pressure from stakeholder groups, much like in the alcohol, tobacco and gaming industries, to eliminate or at the very least best manage the negative social impacts. That’s why Revolution Strategy founded the Global Cannabis Partnership — to develop worldwide corporate social responsibility standards in the cannabis industry. Now is the time.

Leveraging Best Practices The Global Cannabis Partnership (GCP) is composed of government agencies, national associations, licensed producers and industry partners. Its objectives are to set the standard for responsibility for all those who play a role in the recreational cannabis supply chain through responsible practices; align and leverage common principles and practices across diverse jurisdictions; help partners mitigate negative impacts and leverage best practices from within and outside the industry; and enhance social licence to operate, with a view to minimizing harm.

To kick-start our efforts, we secured 16 founding members who are leaders in their respective fields and who want to help shape social responsibility in the cannabis industry. Announced at the World Cannabis Congress last June, they include: Cannabis NB, Canopy Growth Corporation, Aphria Inc., the Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., GreenStar Brands, High Park

Company, Up Cannabis, MedReleaf Corp., Cansortium Holdings, LLC, TG4 Limited, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, EY, PwC Canada, Civilized Worldwide Inc., Business of Cannabis, and Revolution Strategy. Building on our founding members, the member category currently includes Cannabis OneFive Inc., Emblem Corp., Grant Thornton LLP Canada, HEXO Corp., Maricann Group Inc., Organigram Inc., Sundial Growers Inc., and Zenabis, and continues to grow.

Our focus is on collaboration and adherence to common principles that will help elevate the industry’s commitment to CSR, not duplicating existing advocacy and/or lobbying efforts of other reputable organizations. We envision a governmentregulated global cannabis industry that not only meets minimum legal requirements, but one that sets the standard for responsibility, including consumer use and broader economic and environmental performance.

“Building the cannabis industry will require working collaboratively with a wide group of stakeholders and industry partners to advance society’s understanding and acceptance of cannabis,” says Jeff Ryan, VP government and stakeholder relations, Canopy Growth and vice-chair of the GCP Advisory Board. “Through the Global Cannabis Partnership, we can change society’s perception of cannabis through impactful, needs-based initiatives.”

One Collective Voice for Responsible Practices As the new executive director, I’m excited to work with all members to help advance our collective efforts in the area of social responsibility with one unified voice. Our immediate priorities are to validate and advance the GCP’s governance model and develop a Responsible Cannabis Framework, which will include a third-party accreditation process.

In an effort to achieve our priorities, we’re collaborating with Cynthia Goodwin, president and CSR practice lead at Revolution Strategy and CSR veteran Rick Petersen from Blu Communications, founders of the GCP, to help us undertake a number of initiatives. We’ll be benchmarking best practices from a number of companies from various industries, conducting an industry assessment to identify gaps and areas of opportunity, and performing stakeholder audits to help us gather valuable feedback.

The GCP is well positioned to propel this industry forward in a positive way. There will be obstacles along the way, but ultimately, a collaborative and unified approach from industry leaders will ensure we remain laser-focused on achieving our vision of setting industry-leading standards for responsibility. As Awi Sinha, partner at McCarthy Tétrault and one of our founding members says, “We recognize that for cannabis legalization to work, market players must accept and promote social responsibility. When you introduce radical changes in society, you can either create chaos or you can invite order. Serving on the Global Cannabis Partnership is our vote for order.”

To learn more about the GCP, please visit us at globalcannabispartnership.com or contact me directly at kim@globalcannabispartnership.com.