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REEFormNJ New Jersey entrepreneurs bring social equity brand REEForm to East Coast
ocial justice in Cannabis has become a popular topic, however, actual change is elusive. But two New Jersey Cannabis entrepreneurs are building a business around making a difference in their community – they’re trying to deliver on the promise of social equity in Cannabis. On September 14, New Jerseyians gathered at the Doubletree Hilton in Newark to learn about improving their futures. While some states still enforce federal Cannabis prohibition, others have paved the way for expunging criminal Cannabis records. Expungement erases convictions, removing lasting penalties for breaking a broken law. Brendon Robinson and Stanley Okoro co-founded 420NJEvents as a Cannabis-adjacent business – one of the many companies that serve the Cannabis industry without actually manufacturing or selling Cannabis products. Instead, they use their website, podcast and events to focus on education and inclusion. The childhood friends, who refer to each other as brothers, recently partnered with celebrity activist Weldon Angelos. Their new brand, REEForm NJ, will help New Jersey’s remaining Cannabis political prisoners.
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Brendon Robinson and Stanley Okoro co-founded 420NJEvents, which hosted a free Expungement Clinic Sept. 14, 2021 in Newark, NJ that cleared low-level Cannabis charges for New Jersey residents.
Before they even recorded the interview in August, Okoro and Robinson had teamed up with Angelos on a new venture. “We saw the work he was doing with his nonprofit,” Okoro told us, “and just hit it off.” Angelos told them about a company called REEForm Cannabis – a brand that pledges to put part of the proceeds from each sale toward the commissary accounts of nonviolent federal Cannabis prisoners. Okoro and Robinson jumped at the chance to bring that same promise to New Jersey. “Me and my brother knew right then and there that we had to be a part of this,” said Okoro. F R O M P O D C A S T T O PA R T N E R S H I P Angelos understands the plight of people “We got into it back in 2017, when Stan had serving time for Cannabis convictions better than this idea,” Robinson told Northeast Leaf. “This most. The former music producer received a 55organization has an opportunity to educate Black year federal Cannabis sentence in 2003. After a and Brown folks about Cannabis as a business 13-year bipartisan campaign that opportunity, as well as an alternative REEForm aims to included the judge who sentenced medicine.” Robinson used a decade of exhelp nonviolent him and a variety of celebrities, he released from prison in 2016 perience in commercial banking to federal Cannabis was and fully pardoned last year. pursue the dream he shared with his prisoners stay Angelos founded The Weldon lifelong friend. For the first few years, safe, fed and in Project and launched its Mission they weren’t sure if the idea would work out. However, when Cannabis contact with their [Green] initiative to raise awareness help other drug war victims, by activists and consumers turned their loved ones. This and finding a way to help those servfocus to social equity, the new attigoal struck home ing time for Cannabis to sustain tude offered new opportunities. themselves. for Okoro and “We saw the responses to our “If you don’t have money,” said posts,” Robinson said. “Whether it Robinson. Angelos, on the September podcast, was on our website, on Instagram, “you’re going to bed hungry every night. Without on LinkedIn, you know. It really made me realize having friends and family putting money on your the opportunity here for us to make a difference.” books, you struggle.” Prisons have commissaries One of the ways Robinson and Okoro eduto buy necessary products, but you can’t earn cate and inform is through their Higher Learning money for extras while locked up. with 420NJEvents podcast. Earlier this year, they REEForm aims to help nonviolent federal reached out to Angelos to be a guest and planned Cannabis prisoners stay safe, fed and in contact to talk to the music producer turned activist about with their loved ones. This goal struck home for his initiative, Mission [Green], to help those Okoro and Robinson. who’ve suffered the consequences of the drug war.
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“I remember when my uncle actually got locked up,” said Okoro. “I saw the toll that took on him and his family.” Robinson was a collateral victim of the drug war as well. When he was 13, his father was put in prison for a mandatory minimum 10year sentence. With REEForm NJ, founded in May, the serial entrepreneurs hope to at least mitigate the harm still being inflicted. FROM VICTIMS TO VICTORS
The expungement event held in September helped almost 80 people to shake off the shackles of drug conviction. With a clean record, they may be eligible to find good employment in a growing field. In addition to 420NJEvents and REEForm NJ, Okoro and Robinson also co-founded the Minority Cannabis Academy in March. The nonprofit aims to provide online and in-person instruction to help minority candidates succeed in the Cannabis industry. Like many sales pitches for higher education, MCA touts a focus on job placement in the industry. However, having Cannabis multi-state operators like Columbia Care and The Apothecarium co-sponsoring the expungement clinic suggests these two have big plans and business reach. “We are working on a career Cannabis fair.” said Okoro, of future plans. “It’s gonna be a two-part event.” The first part, Okoro said, will be a resume building workshop. The second part will put those resumes to the test with a Cannabis job fair to connect New Jersey’s Cannabis employers with an engaged workforce. “So that’s something to keep an eye out for.” REEFORMCANNABIS.COM | @REEF_ORM 420NJEVENTS.COM | @420NJEVENTS
STORY by P. AIDEN HUNT @PAIDENHUNT81 for NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by EMMANUEL BELLE @THEPRINCENETWORK
