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As cannabis continues to be socially accepted and flourish in the legal market, the new industry must come to terms with the discriminatory and damaging past of the failed War on Drugs. For decades, thousands of citizens have been\u2014and continue to be\u2014unjustly convicted and incarcerated<\/a> and now live with the many societal disadvantages of a criminal cannabis conviction. To combat these many disadvantages for a once crime that\u2019s now legal in some form in much more than half the US, progressive states are implementing policies to include individuals from areas that were devastated by the draconian policies of the decades-long failure of the drug war. Known as social equity, these programs could provide opportunities for lucrative business ownership in communities that are often overlooked for economic opportunities.<\/p>\n A new cannabis brand out of Chicago has made social equity a cornerstone of its corporate ethos while also combining and respecting the urban American subcultures that pushed weed culture into the mainstream. \u00dcmi Farms<\/a> is a parent company for cannabis brands specifically geared toward social equity causes, including \u00dcMI retail dispensaries and the \u00dcMI Farms craft cannabis cultivation facility.\u00a0It was founded by CEO Akele Parnell, an attorney and cannabis activist who\u2019s deeply committed and entrenched in those very topics on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n Parnell has served a number of legal and advocacy roles for various cannabis companies and organizations. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis\u2019 Law School, Parnell previously held the position of in-house counsel for Green Thumb Industries and staff attorney for the Chicago Lawyers\u2019\u200b Committee for Civil Rights. In advocacy, Parnell has been involved with Chicago NORML<\/a> for half a decade and been a board member since 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty much immediately after joining the industry, I wondered where all the people from communities were that have been devastated by the War on Drugs,\u201d Parnell says. So, I set out on a mission to bring more folks like me into the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Illinois became the 11th state to legalize medical and adult-use cannabis on January 1, 2020, when the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act came into effect. The state opened applications for new cannabis licenses later that year, a historic measure that received more than 600 social equity applications. Unlike other states\u2019 flawed implementation of social equity, Parnell describes Illinois\u2019 approach as \u201crobust\u201d despite initial challenges. \u201cWe were successful in getting licenses into the hands of hundreds of social equity and Black and Latino-owned businesses,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot is still left to be desired when achieving the process of social equity. Hopefully, in the relatively near future, we can get to a good spot where we can feel that we\u2019ve accomplished the things we set out to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00dcmi Farms recognizes cannabis\u2019 decorated legacy and the socially restorative future that the plant could have. The name \u00dcmi is quite interesting from a language standpoint, as it translates into different words in different languages, while the meanings all represent life. In Japanese, \u201c\u00dcmi\u201d means \u201cocean;\u201d in Arabic, \u201c\u00dcmi\u201d means \u201cmother,\u201d \u201cfoundation\u201d and \u201csource.\u201d In the language of the Mambwe people from Zambia and Tanzania, \u201c\u00dcmi\u201d translates to \u201clife.\u201d In his 1999 debut album, Black on Both Sides<\/em>, Mos Def included a song called \u201c\u00dcmi Says.\u201d\u00a0 According to Parnell, the name \u201chas an important meeting to the cannabis ecosystem we\u2019re building.\u201d<\/p>\n Lab 11<\/a> is the first brand launched under \u00dcmi Farms. Parnell describes it as their \u201cultimate brainchild.\u201d \u201cA minority and veteran-owned social equity brand, Lab 11 is as diverse, dynamic and determined as the communities we aim to uplift through the transformative power of the plant,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inspired by the creativity of contemporary urban subcultures and a nostalgia for the golden era of the industry, Lab 11 celebrates the legacy of cannabis culture\u2014progressive, free, countercultural and provocative\u2014all while exploring it\u2019s impacts throughout time. \u201cIt\u2019s our answer to a legal cannabis market full of brands that don\u2019t really speak our language,\u201d Parnell says. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been an opportunity for a brand to be brought by folks that are immersed in these progressive, free and countercultural ecosystems and environments in Chicago. It includes a lot of activists, a lot of creatives, a lot of chefs, a lot of cultural workers and ultimately, that\u2019s what Lab 11 is about.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority of Lab 11\u2019s owners and operators were raised in communities deeply impacted by previous drug policies, such as the Woodlawn neighborhood in Chicago. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing advocacy for social equity across the country pretty much the entire time we\u2019ve been in the industry,\u201d Parnell says. \u201cAs the brand grows, we\u2019ll continue to give opportunities to people from communities that have been disproportionately impacted and we\u2019ll find ways to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n Parnell says that \u00dcmi Farms and Lab 11 will continue to partner with brands and individuals who hold similarly advanced views on social equity and further reforms from horribly damaging drug laws outside of cannabis. The brand will also be creating a sort of mentorship program in the Illinois industry, where those who are aspiring to work in cannabis will be paired up with employees to receive on-the-job training.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to build that ecosystem and that community and create a safe place for people to come and enjoy the plant,\u201d Parnell says. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to find ways to build and increase social equity in Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n The post \u00dcmi Farms Is Serious About Social Equity<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As cannabis continues to be socially accepted and flourish in the legal market, the new industry must come to terms with the discriminatory and damaging past of the failed War on Drugs. For decades, thousands of citizens have been\u2014and continue to be\u2014unjustly convicted and incarcerated and now live with theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":559,"featured_media":80436,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,10478,2544,2462,1051,18292],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80437,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80435\/revisions\/80437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Akele_Parnell_Umi-683x1024-1.jpg\")
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\nRead More: \u00dcmi Farms Is Serious About Social Equity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"