Business Leaders Launch National Hispanic Cannabis Council

Aimed at empowering the U.S. Hispanic community, the National Hispanic Cannabis Council launched on Thursday. The nonprofit will focus on raising awareness around cannabis-related health, economic, and legal issues and promote participation and leadership in the industry.

The organization notes that Hispanics are currently underrepresented in the U.S. legal cannabis industry.

Brian Vicente, a founding NHCC board member and partner at cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, said that “Cannabis prohibition in the U.S. was founded in large part upon prejudice toward Mexican immigrants, and it has disproportionately impacted the Hispanic community ever since.”

“The NHCC will work to repair the damage caused by old prohibition policies and to ensure the Hispanic community benefits from the new legal systems coming online to replace them. We are excited to launch this organization at a time of unprecedented economic opportunity in the emerging legal cannabis industry.” – Vicente in a press release

The NHCC was founded by industry leaders representing a variety of companies, including Can It Industries, LLC; Cresco Labs; Folsom and Forge; Moxie; Trulieve; and Vicente Sederberg LLP. It is led by executive director Antonio Valdez and governed by a national board of directors. Valdez is a consumer marketing expert with over 20 years of experience marketing to the Hispanic community and he was a founding board member in the launch of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the nation’s first Hispanic trade association for the real estate industry.