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Jersey City, NJ – November 8, 2023 – PRESS RELEASE – The Cannabis Place announces the grand opening of its New Jersey flagship dispensary location this Thursday at 4:20 p.m. “We picked this week to open. It is symbolic in many ways. I am an Iraq Veteran, we have the Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans Day, to add the opening of Jersey City’s first service-disabled veteran owned business to this makes this week even more special to us and our team,” said The Cannabis Place founder and CEO Osbert Orduña.
Less than a week ago, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 360, in partnership with The Cannabis Place, announced the completion of the country’s first ever cannabis retail pre-apprenticeship training program, held at The Cannabis Place’s community impact room adjacent to its dispensary in Jersey City, where nearly two dozen local students learned the basics of working in a cannabis retail environment from UFCW Local 360’s experts. Every participant, after completing the two-week course, has now started their journey to a unionized cannabis dispensary career with The Cannabis Place in Jersey City.
“We are a partner with our local community,” said Orduña. “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.”
“No one has done this before,” said Hugh Giordano, Director of Organizing at UFCW Local 360. “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,” added Giordano. “Programs like this help attract that talent and release its potential.”
Cannabis is one of the fastest growing industries in the nation and The Cannabis Place is demonstrating that responsible corporations can ensure the benefits of its growth accrue equitably. That includes building pathways to family-sustaining careers with a special focus on marginalized communities, veterans, and those who suffered during the failed war on drugs.
The Cannabis Place was founded by Orduña, a first generation Latino American of Colombian descent, who grew up in New York City Public Housing, where he was stopped and frisked for the first time at just 13 years old. He was the first person in his family to go to college and earned his Service-Disabled Veteran designation while deployed in Iraq. He is putting his U.S Marine Corps experience, his life experience and unique perspective to work as a model for other professionals to follow in the licensed cannabis industry.
From seed to sale, UFCW is a national leader in organizing cannabis industry employees. The AFL-CIO’s designated cannabis labor union, UFCW works with employees and business owners to create a successful, regulated cannabis industry that delivers family-sustaining jobs and is focused on social equity.
