Cannabis Community Care & Research Network (“C3RN”)
Blake M. Mensing is the lead legal advisor for C3RN’s social equity technical assistance training program, which was recently selected to advance to the next round of the procurement process for one of Massachusetts’, and the nation’s, first ever contracts to provide state-funded technical assistance and training to the people hit the hardest by the failed drug war. Eligible participants in the Cannabis Control Commission’s Social Equity Program will benefit from an apprenticeship and training program that C3RN and Holyoke Community College are implementing with the help of 50 Massachusetts cannabis businesses serving as apprenticeship sites. Academic and practical training based on evidenced-based research will allow program participants to learn the skills needed to succeed, and gain employment in, cannabis businesses throughout the Commonwealth. C3RN is a provider of advocacy, research, and educational services related to cannabis. Restorative social justice and the development of true social equity are imperative for this industry in Massachusetts, both because they are the only clear moral choice, but also because other states are using Massachusetts as a model for their adult use regulatory structures.