NOTE: This is an unedited press release. Profiles in Legalization took no part in its creation.
REEForm New Jersey’s cannabis products will financially support men and women serving prison time for non-violent cannabis charges
CHERRY HILL, N.J. – August 16, 2021 – New Jersey-based cannabis company REEForm NJ is launching initiatives to help reform the criminal justice system and end the federal ban on cannabis. REEForm NJ is also calling on other companies to “help the people who have been wronged by the system for doing the same thing that multi-state operators (MSOs) in the state cannabis industries are doing every day on a much larger scale,” said activist Weldon Angelos, the founder of REEForm National.
REEForm NJ is an affiliate company of REEForm LLC, which was started in California in 2019. The joint partnership will bring REEForm products to New Jersey cannabis dispensaries. A portion of the proceeds from every sale will go directly towards the commissary accounts of individuals serving time for a non-violent cannabis charge in New Jersey.
“So every time a consumer purchases our products, they are not only getting their medicine, but they’re also putting money in the hands of someone unjustly incarcerated for cannabis,” Angelos said. “This brand enables consumers and dispensary owners to directly participate in the movement and have a direct and positive impact on an incarcerated person’s life.”
REEForm NJ President, Brendon Robinson said REEForm NJ products will soon be available in state dispensaries and added that the organization seeks to partner with retail locations committed to social equity and dismantling the stigma of the “War on Drugs.” Speaking of his motivation, Robinson said, “My father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison when I was only 13 years old. The emotional devastation was gut wrenching but so was the financial burden. Being able to leverage cannabis to put money on these men and women’s financial accounts while they’re senselessly being held in prison is just the beginning of shifting this narrative.”
Stanley Okoro, REEForm NJ’s Vice President & Director of Community Affairs, noted, ‘The War on Drugs’ has ravaged countless families and communities, in particularly the African American and Latino communities. Providing restitution to those that are currently incarcerated for cannabis offenses is one of the many steps that must happen to rectify the damage that has been done and sadly continues to this day with cannabis persecution and criminalization.”
Since entering the cannabis market, childhood friends Robinson and Okoro have established a cannabis brand with their 420NJEvents organization. Additionally, they’re putting together a cannabis education platform with their Minority Cannabis Academy and they’re helping individuals who have been let down by criminal justice system with their REEForm NJ organization. They take pride in advocating for disenfranchised communities that have been stricken by the War on Drugs, they support black owned and operated companies and they will be hosting an Expungement Event on September 14th at the Doubletree by Hilton Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey from 10:00am to 6:00pm.
REEForm founder Weldon Angelos was a hip-hop music producer who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for $900 worth of cannabis. Angelos served 13 of those 55 years as a first-time offender before receiving clemency by President Obama in 2016 and later fully pardoned by former President Trump in 2020. Angelos knows firsthand the struggles of surviving in prison and how devastating it is for a prisoner to lose contact with his or her family because they can’t afford expensive phone calls. “Prison feeds you enough just to keep you alive, not full. I remember running out of money around the holidays and wasn’t able to call my sons. It was one of the most challenging times during my incarceration,” Angelos said.
To learn more about REEForm visit reeformcannabis.com. REEForm can also be followed on Instagram at @reef_orm and you can follow REEForm NJ at @reeform_nj.
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REEForm NJ
Brendon Robinson
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REEForm NJ
Stanley Okoro
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