New Jersey Opens First Service-Disabled Veteran and Latino-Owned Cannabis Dispensary in Jersey City

The Garden state just got a little bit greener. Located in Jersey City, New Jersey, the first service-disabled veteran and latino-owned cannabis dispensary has opened!

The Cannabis Place held their grand opening at 4:20pm ET on November 8, 2023. “We picked this week to open because it’s symbolic in many ways: I am an Iraq veteran; we have the Marine Corps birthday and Veterans Day, so opening Jersey City’s first service-disabled, veteran-owned business makes this week even more special to us and our team,” said The Cannabis Place founder and CEO Osbert Orduña in a recent press release (1).

The Cannabis Place also enjoys being a safe space where the community can gather. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 360, recently partnered with the new dispensary and where they announced the completion of the first-ever cannabis retail pre-apprenticeship training program in the country (1). There is a community impact room next to the dispensary in Jersey City. It was reported that nearly two dozen local students were able to learn the basics of working in a cannabis retail environment from UFCW Local 360’s experts. One the two-week course was completed, each participant was told that they had begun their journey to a “unionized cannabis dispensary career with The Cannabis Place,” (1).

“We are a partner with our local community,” said Orduña (1). “That means running an ethical, pro-union company and boosting the prospects and prosperity of our neighbors. The Cannabis Place does that and is living proof that workforce investment equals immediate positive community impact. People now have opportunities for union careers here, no one was bringing this opportunity to the south side of Jersey City: I am proud to say that we are leading by example. People deserve an opportunity, whatever their background and skill level, and regardless of their history.”

Hugh Giordano, director of organizing at UFCW Local 360, commented (1), “No one has done this before. We have a visionary employer harnessing our unmatched cannabis industry expertise to train ambitious, local, but often overlooked talent. It’s a scalable and repeatable model that delivers great value for employees, owners, and consumers. The best employers recognize the enormous untapped pool of amazing talent out there. Programs like this help attract that talent and release its potential.”

CEO Osbert Orduña founded The Cannabis Place and is also a first-generation Latino American of Colombian descent and gew up in New York City public housing. Orduña was the first person in his family to attend college and received his service-disabled veteran designation while deployed in Iraq (1). By utilizing his US Marine Corps experience, life experiences, and his one-of-a-kind work perspective (1), Orduña hopes to help inspire other professionals to get involved in the licensed cannabis industry.

Reference

1. The Cannabis Place. New Jersey’s First Service-Disabled Veteran And Latino-Owned Cannabis Dispensary Opens In Jersey City https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/11/09/2776907/0/en/New-Jersey-s-First-Service-Disabled-Veteran-And-Latino-Owned-Cannabis-Dispensary-Opens-In-Jersey-City.html (accessed Nov 9, 2023).