Written by a member of the PVD Flowers team, the nation’s first BIPOC, worker-owned, unionized dispensary.
If I told you that the recreational cannabis industry is ruining weed, would you believe me? While legalization has certainly brought many benefits, it’s also come with some major downsides. Many of the things that once made cannabis culture vibrant – including authenticity, deep community ties, and focus on product quality and unique genetics developed by passionate cultivators over decades of prohibition – are being eroded by a looming corporate takeover. Misinformation rooted in old prohibitionist attitudes persists, and declining product quality, driven by a focus on profit and scalability over integrity, has left consumers less informed and further removed from the knowledge that could empower them to treat cannabis as the medicinal plant it is. High barriers to entry keep small operators out, and Social Equity Programs, created to repair the harms of the War on Drugs, have largely failed to deliver meaningful change. On top of all that, the regulatory bodies meant to protect the plant, the patients, and the consumers seem to be plagued by mismanagement, incompetence, and negligence. For many, legalization symbolized not just access to a plant, but an invitation to build a new kind of economy; those dreams just don’t appear to be materializing so far.
To understand the current landscape of the cannabis industry, we can look to states with more mature markets. Our neighbors in Massachusetts offer a prime example. After six years of adult-use sales, we see price compression exemplified by the fact that the market has made over 6 billion dollars in total sales, yet prices have collapsed (the average price per gram of flower in 2018 was $14.16, by the end of 2024 it was $5.42), social equity participants are struggling to survive, and a handful of multi-state operators are dominating the shelves. Rhode Island is only two years into adult-use sales and is already showing signs of similar consolidation patterns: limited licenses prioritized for well-connected players, and smaller legacy operators still fighting for a seat at the table.
Beyond the economics of the industry, the governance in Massachusetts is also facing significant challenges. A state audit of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (MA CCC) revealed mismanagement, leadership turnover, weak oversight, and inadequate enforcement of worker protections. The MA industry has also notably seen one Testing Lab’s license suspended for falsifying test results, with more suspected of doing the same, and the death of Lorna McMurrey, a cannabis worker who tragically collapsed at Trulieve’s Holyoke Facility, and later passed away from an asthma attack after exposure to cannabis dust. After an investigation, her death was attributed to Trulieve failing to properly train workers on occupational hazards and failing to keep records of hazardous materials at the facility.
Even outside of MA, it’s a pretty consistent story to hear from people who have worked in the industry that it “chews you up and spits you back out.” Claims of high turnover rates, low wages, burnout, and working conditions that feel more like factory lines than part of a counter-cultural industry, seem to be an almost universal experience. “Profit over people” is not just a figure of speech. It manifests in cut corners around compliance and safety, compressed wages despite soaring sales, and an obsession with potency numbers and low prices that erodes the quality of the product itself.
In order to truly transform the cannabis industry, you’d have to transform all industries in general. Can you imagine a world where convenience at any cost is not the norm? Where shareholder returns don’t trump human rights and worker protections? A world where everyone is cared for and we prioritize truth, knowledge, and understanding about our earth and the people around us? We cannot just opt out of the system that we all currently exist in, but we can start to make changes that put power back in the hands of small communities instead of big corporations, and turn this one industry back into the movement that it started as. Worker-owned co-ops are an answer to the hyperindividualism that has turned this thousands-year-old sacred plant into just another commodity for the rich to get richer from.
PVD Flowers is one of the co-ops looking to make the most of this monumental opportunity that we have in Rhode Island: for six worker cooperatives, businesses owned and governed by their workers, to own and operate cannabis retail licenses. Applying for a license in Zone 2 (Providence, Johnston, North Providence, Central Falls, and Lincoln), our diverse team consists of talented and passionate individuals committed to positively impacting the communities where they grew up and currently reside. Of course PVD Flowers plans to carry quality products, but our main priority is to work toward empowering our community. We believe that being responsive to community needs and values means fostering relationships. We plan to emphasize collaborating with other changemakers, supporting local artists and artisans, and partnering with fellow cooperative businesses. Education is also a priority: We strive to make accurate, science-based information about cannabis accessible to our customers. Bridgette Cruz, one of the newest members of PVD Flowers, says: “The authenticity of PVD Flowers shines through as we are from the communities that have been impacted by the War on Drugs throughout America. I personally have dedicated our effort and my work to family members who have been lost or affected. We’re proud to represent our roots to legacy by staying true to our multi-cultural backgrounds through art, music, cannabis history, and more. Those elements bring us together for a bigger purpose.”
As a worker cooperative, PVD Flowers will also address declining work standards in the industry by giving its workers the power to make their own decisions and take home the profits at the end of the day. PVD Flowers is working with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328, demonstrating both the union and the cooperative’s commitment to building new kinds of economic models in this industry that embed worker power and opportunities for wealth-building into the fabric of the business itself.
You can support PVD Flowers @pvdflowersri, supporting Co-op Rhody (our larger network of Rhode Island cannabis cooperatives), or bygetting directly in touch at info@pvdflowers.com.