Roz McCarthy. Photo by Jacob Langston /Orlando Sentinel
Roz McCarthy is a unique force within the cannabis community precisely because she puts her money where her mouth is. Driven by 20-plus years of business expertise and her devotion for equity within the medical marijuana industry, McCarthy founded Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) in May, 2016.
What was initially prompted by a series of personal tragedies has resulted in an active entrepreneurial community that is rapidly spreading across the country, and beyond. The Florida-based organization is more than an advocacy group—it’s an expanding network of partnerships that work in tandem to provide real opportunities for people of color to thrive within the green space.
The industrious business leader doesn’t stop there. McCarthy’s activism has given birth to several new enterprises designed to help folks of color benefit from cannabis liberation on a variety of fronts. Hers is an inspiring example of what happens when outstanding business acumen is combined with a commitment to community advancement and a vision of a better tomorrow.
EstroHaze had an opportunity to chat with McCarthy about her work with M4MM:
EH: What is M4MM, who created it and why?
McCarthy: M4MM is a 501c3 non-profit organization that focuses on advocacy, outreach, education, training and research. We are specifically addressing people from communities of color who are interested in learning about the cannabis industry from the medical, social justice, public policy and workforce/economic development perspectives.
I am the founder and CEO of the organization. I am a mother of two who has 25 years of senior level executive pharmaceutical sales and hospice experience as a regional director of business development. I started my own consulting firm when I left Corporate America. I did a lot of grant writing and working with non-profit organizations and business development. My consulting firm was a contractor with the federal government for the VA.
I’m based in Florida. When the state was going through the constitutional amendment to get people to vote yes for a [cannabis] program, I didn’t see groups like the NAACP or the Urban League getting involved. I thought to myself “I need to do something. I need to start my own non-profit.”
My mom passed away from breast cancer in 2005. When I was a teenager, my father was diagnosed with glaucoma and ended up losing his eyesight. Basically as he got older he ended up having a mental breakdown, and he too passed away from poor health conditions three years after my mother died. The icing on the cake regarding why I wanted to get into cannabis is that my son has Sickle Cell. He’s 19 years old. He attends Florida A&M University and is pursuing a degree in pharmacy. I just felt like I didn’t want my son to ever have to deal with the stigma if he needed the plant in order to support his medical condition. I wanted to make sure that he knows what [cannabis] is about, and how to protect himself. God forbid anyone try to arrest my son because he’s trying to take care of his medical issues. I felt I needed to start my own organization very much focused on the medical aspects of the cannabis industry.
I just want to pause to absorb the gravity of your family’s circumstances. That’s very heavy.
I truly remain humble in what I’m doing. This was something that wasn’t even in my wheelhouse. I wasn’t even thinking about this, but sometimes you’re put in the right place at the right time. This was something that was in my soul. I honestly felt like my mom’s spirit said “Listen, if you’re going to do it, get off your ass and do it, or, leave it alone.”
I left a six-figure income and I ended up coming out of the cannabis closet. I lost some friends, I’m sure, because it wasn’t politically correct. People were looking at me like “Roz, are you serious?” But I told myself that I was going to figure this out. Two years later (we just had our 2 year anniversary on May 10, 2018) we are now in 18 different states and in one country - Jamaica. Bermuda and Belize are to come online next. I’m truly blessed and honored to be leading such a revolution. It’s our new Civil Rights, it truly is. God bless people that see that. I’m hoping that larger civil rights organizations jump on the bandwagon, as well, to really push this through.
M4MM is a nonprofit organization that supports equity, inclusion and diversity in cannabis. How do you go about doing so?
Let’s break that phrase down: equity, inclusion and diversity, because these are 3 separate things. The equity part means equal. Equal means I want folks to be able to have equal ownership. There is nothing like being able to own your piece of land or your own business.
As these license holders are coming on board and states are building out these programs, the equity piece is where we help collectives or individuals get funding for their project. I want ownership, so for those who own: how can we deliver a platform to profile you? We want to make sure that people are coming online and getting licenses through these different equity programs. We aim to make sure that you have all that you need to be successful. There’s nothing worse than having an equity program but you don’t equip the people that are receiving the licenses with the tools to be successful.
The inclusion part is all about workforce development and career exploration. If you look around, from the ancillary side to touching the plant [African Americans] are very low in regard to the percentage of the workforce within the cannabis space. M4MM is developing a new job board platform called Brue. Bruejobs.com is going to match diverse candidates to different career opportunities in the cannabis and hemp industries.
The last piece is the diversity part. Diversity is an over-arching theme. There’s not one Fortune 500 company that does not have a commitment towards diversity and inclusion from a cultural standpoint. We believe that diversity has to be a part of these organizations in the [cannabis] industry from the top to the bottom, and not just talking about it but really walking the walk. I do a diversity training program with some of these companies.
M4MM’s goal is to supply them with the resources and outline of a program that helps them understand what it means to do a diversity plan and have a workforce that supports a culture of diversity. If that means we have to train them, then that’s what we’re going to do.
M4MM’s mission states that you provide outreach to underserved communities. Can you give us some examples?
We have several programs. One of them is called Ready Set Grow which is our internship program where we match students from predominately HBCU’s with paid internship opportunities. This past summer we were able to connect four African American men to either full-time employment or paid internships.
One young man, a business student, is working for a license holder here in Florida. In this state, it’s a vertical license which means [a licensee] does everything from seed to sale. They cultivate, manufacture, process, own the dispensary and do all of the deliveries under one license. Over the summer, this young man worked with one of our partners, Trulieve. He was able to rotate throughout all the different departments within the organization. Can you imagine his resume? Once he graduates, if he wants to get into the cannabis industry to start a career, he’ll have the opportunity to get that nice advanced job and make great money.
On top of that, we do something called Let’s Talk Cannabis. Those are our community forums. We work closely with the Black Caucus in states that are pushing public policy about legalization. We’ll go into their district and put together a community forum with a panel and talk about the medical marijuana programs in their respective states. We may talk about workforce development or career opportunities in the industry. We’ll have a doctor talk about medical conditions.
It’s a panel that’s there to answer questions from constituents that are in the communities of Black Caucus legislators. M4MM does the work: we do the marketing, we create the flyers, set up the panel and bring the refreshments. We literally put it all together. It’s been so successful since we started it last year. We’re getting ready to start our summer series in August. It runs from August to October in various locations across the country.
We also have an Urban Farming program which is all about educating new urban farmers about what it means to get into hemp farming and what the economic opportunities look like. We just had a webinar about 2 weeks ago with over 50 people on the call. We discussed how to get involved and the economic impact for landowners who would like to lease out [acreage] to hemp farmers.
Talk to us about the M4MM Chapters and how they function to aid in the overall mission.
We have 19 chapters: 18 in the US, and one in Jamaica. Belize and Bermuda are on they way to establishing their own chapters. Our number one priority is branding and marketing of the organization of who we are and all of the resources that we offer.
The role of Chapter President is a non-paid position. Ninety percent of our chapter presidents have their own cannabis brands. Our goal is to extend our brand into the state and give people of color a place of comfort where they can jump on a webinar call, and connect. Every Friday I offer a free webinar called Cannatalk a with Roz. I answer questions about anything a person wants to know about the industry.
Is there a fee for joining M4MM?
The Membership fee is $100 per year for individuals and start-up businesses to plug you in and help you grow within the industry, or for people who just want to support what we’re doing with [a monetary] contribution.
What kind of activities do chapters provide?
We do networking mixers and meet-ups. It’s almost like a support mechanism. I’m based in Florida, so I really had to create a stable team around me of folks who are just as passionate, that are doing this for the right reasons and really want to see our community advance in this industry.
Describe the partnerships you forge with other cannabis businesses.
It’s not just about M4MM; we want to uplift other brands and advocacy groups who are doing the right thing. I am unapologetic about doing the right thing for my community. If I have folks that want to push out content within our social media platforms, we do it. If they want us to participate in an event, we do it. We aim to literally build a bridge and create connectivity with one another.
You founded the Genesis Group. What is it and how is it affiliated with M4MM?
Genesis Group is the consulting firm I started before founding M4MM. Today it’s a corporate partner of M4MM. Initially Genesis was not a part of the cannabis industry; it focused on telecommunications, technology and hospitality. Now most of the work I do with Genesis Group involves cannabis.
There are 2 other business that I own: Bruejobs.com and I am creating a hemp company/urban farmer collective [mentioned previously] called McCarthy Hemp Co. We will work with landowners who want to get into the industry but don’t know how to get started. We will basically lease their land and bring all that acreage under McCarthy Hemp Co. We will cultivate on that land and do a profit sharing on the revenue that’s generated from the crops.
To be honest with you, we have to show folks that [people of color] know how to work together. We have a hard time doing that without pulling each other’s hair out. McCarthy Hemp Co. is all about bringing a collective of people together and showing folks that we can work together and everybody can win.
Do you have a personal philosophy that guides your leadership of M4MM?
What I’m trying to do is lead by example with M4MM. I’m not new to this game. I’m 49 years old and have been in Corporate America since I was 22, so I know what I’m doing when it comes to leading an organization. The leader in me says “you have to reach out to these other sister organizations.” Whether you’re the Minority Cannabis Business Association, California Minority Alliance or Cannaclusive, what you’re doing matters and it’s making a difference. No organization is better than another. We’re all in this fight together and we have to support each other, even if it’s something as simple as liking you on Facebook. I’m very intentional in making sure that I reach out to other organizations. It starts with leadership. If I do it, then my team will do it and I’m hoping it will become like a daisy chain and it will just go on from there.
What are some of the ways in which folks of color can add value while benefiting from the growing cannabis community?
Pay it forward. If someone opens up a door for you, open up a door for the next person.
From your experience, what message do you think is important to share with people of color on both sides of the industry?
Be strategic and think about the big picture. What I tell people is that this is not a 100 yard dash, this is a marathon. A marathon is 26 miles. M4MM is at mile marker 2.3. If folks are just getting into the industry, it’s not too late but you have to be very decisive, patient, calm and strategic. Things may not happen overnight but if you stay the course it will come together. That’s where the pay it forward part comes in. If someone helps you get turned on, then it’s really your job to help someone else get turned on.
What we have to understand is that sometimes the information that we’ve been given is misinformation. When I learned about PTSD and the different medical conditions that can be treated by cannabis, I realized that it was not a gateway drug. We have to educate ourselves and not fall for the okey doke and the stigmas.
I really challenge our faith-based organizations to have a candid conversation. We have a lot of people in the church right now who are the first ones to condemn, but when they go home, they’re consumers. Let’s just be honest and open our minds to the possibilities.
It’s possible to be able to tap into the benefit of this plant and not tap into the stigma of being stoned.
What’s your personal experience with medical marijuana?
In college, almost all of my friends were [cannabis] consumers except me. It just wasn’t my thing; even in adulthood. I don’t smoke but I do use topicals. I have a herniated disk and I use a topical that has 1000 mg of THC that works wonders on my back. I have some CBD oil I may take too. It goes straight to the pain source. I don’t take any hydrocodone. How nice is it to use something natural, instead of opioids, to control my pain?
Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share with us?
I believe this industry was built on the backs of Black and Brown people, many of whom are still incarcerated. With that being said, open your mind to the possibilities and understanding of [cannabis] legalization. I challenge folks to set up a Google Alert. Enter your state plus the words ‘medical,’ ‘marijuana,’ and ‘cannabis.’ Every now and then you’ll be alerted as to what’s going on in your state. Stay informed. You don’t have to get into the industry, you don’t have to touch the plant, just know what’s going on from a social justice and public policy perspective because it really is our civil rights movement and we need to keep abreast of what’s happening. Staying informed is the best thing we can do.