Cannabis has certainly lost a lot of the stigma that was attached to it a decade ago. More dispensaries are popping up as more states decide to legalize the plant for recreational use, allowing safer access and more jobs. With that in mind, the communities that have been affected most by the war on drugs also haven't been allowed their fair share of the industry. So, Jay-Z is putting his money where his mouth is and launching a fund to help minority-owned cannabis businesses, per WSJ.
The new fund arrives after the acquisition of Left Coast Ventures and VMG Partners by Subversive Capital Acquisition Corp. The two companies have now been merged under the name The Parent Company and are taking $10M from their seed money acquired by Jay to launch the Social Equity Ventures Fund. The new fund will work towards promoting Black-owned cannabis ventures to combat the efforts of America's War On Drugs.
"We were the ones most negatively affected by the war on drugs, and America has turned around and created a business from it that’s worth billions," Jay-Z said to WSJ. "I wanted to do something in a real, concrete way, where I do my part."
Jay-Z also recently launched his own cannabis brand called Monogram.
For more on hip-hop's relationship with the cannabis industry, read, "All The Smoke: Hip Hop’s Capital In The Multibillion Dollar Cannabis Industry."