Ben & Jerry’s co-founder starts nonprofit cannabis company

The Canadian Press

Published

1 year ago

1 minute read

WILLISTON, Vt. (AP) — One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s has gone from ice cream to cannabis with a social mission.

Ben Cohen has started Ben’s Best Blnz, a nonprofit cannabis line with a stated mission of helping to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. The company says on its website that 80% of its profits will go to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs while the rest will be equally divided between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project, which is working to free people incarcerated for cannabis offenses.

“The War on Drugs (first so named by President Richard Nixon) has targeted lower income Black and Brown people thru over policing, discriminatory prosecution, and discriminatory sentencing,” the website states. “That’s why despite using pot at the same rate, Black people are 4 times more likely to be arrested than Whites.”

Ben’s Best Blnz, or B3, says it licenses its formulas, packaging, trademarks, and marketing materials to for-profit businesses that pay a royalty. After expenses are deducted, the royalties are donated to the cause.

The cannabis is grown in soil using no nonorganic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, the website states.

The B3 products, including pre-rolled joints with lower levels of the psychoactive compound THC, are expected to be available in cannabis shops in Vermont next month.

The Associated Press

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Alberta

Red Deer Company fined $360,000.00 after 2022 workplace fatality

Published on April 29, 2024

Government of Alberta

Company sentenced for workplace fatality

An oilfield equipment supplier will pay $360,000 related to a workplace fatality.

On Feb. 21, 2024 in the Red Deer Court of Justice, Isolation Equipment Services Inc. pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Code for failing to take measures to eliminate the potential danger of equipment or material that was dislodged or moved. The Crown withdrew 28 other charges under OHS legislation. The company was sentenced on April 24.

The charges stem from an incident on a Red Deer construction site on Jan. 13, 2022. A worker operating an overhead crane was positioning a valve bonnet when the equipment released from the rigging, striking and pinning the worker. The worker sustained fatal injuries.

The company will pay $360,000 in total penalties, including a $1,000 fine. Under a creative sentence, $359,000 will be paid to Energy Safety Canada to develop supervisor and competency programs targeting those who work with new, young and inexperienced workers.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act provides a creative sentence option in which funds that would otherwise be paid as fines are directed to an organization or project to improve or promote workplace health and safety.

Both the company and the Crown have up to 30 days to appeal the conviction or penalties.

Alberta’s OHS laws set basic health and safety rules for workplaces across the province. They provide guidance for employers to help them ensure their workplaces are as healthy and safe as possible while providing rights and protections for workers. Charges under OHS laws may be laid when failing to follow the rules results in a workplace fatality or serious injury.

Quick facts

Jobs, Economy and Trade does not provide sentence documents. These are available through the Red Deer Court of Justice.
Victim fine surcharges apply to fines payable to the Crown. The $1,000 fine in this case includes the 20 per cent surcharge. Surcharges are not applied to payments to other entities, in this case Energy Safety Canada, under creative sentences.
Fatality investigation summaries are posted to alberta.ca/fatality-investigation-reports 60 to 90 days after court proceedings conclude.

Related information

Alberta

Principal at Calgary Elementary School charged with possession of child pornography

Published on April 29, 2024

Todayville

News release from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT)

Calgary school principal charged

A Calgary school principal has been charged with offences relating to child sexual abuse materials following an investigation by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation unit.

ICE charged Bruce Campbell on April 16, 2024 with possessing and accessing child pornography. The 61-year-old man was employed as a principal at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Calgary.

“Currently we believe these offences are solely related to online activities, but can appreciate how parents and students would be shocked and concerned about these charges,” said Staff Sergeant Mark Auger, ALERT ICE.

Campbell allegedly uploaded child sexual abuse materials via Skype and ALERT was notified via the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre in January 2024.

Campbell’s Calgary home was searched and a number of phone and computers were seized. A preliminary forensic analysis of the seized devices found child sexual abuse materials on his work-issued cellphone.

While the investigation and charges are related to online offences, the nature of Campbell’s employment placed him in a position of trust and authority. ICE is encouraging anyone with information about this case to come forward and contact police. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact local police or Crime Stoppers (1-800-222-TIPS).

Campbell was released from custody on a number of court-imposed conditions, and is awaiting his next scheduled court appearance on May 10, 2024 in Calgary.

ALERT was established and is funded by the Alberta Government and is a compilation of the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources committed to tackling serious and organized crime.