Juneteenth marks the day the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned they were free — two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. That delay wasn’t an accident. The system worked exactly as designed.
The cannabis industry knows something about that system.
Before being widely used as a recreational drug, cannabis was an industrial cash crop grown by early American presidents to make fibers, rope, and paper. It was also a major medicinal ingredient for pain, spasms, nausea, and depression. At the turn of the 20th century, the drug was popularized by Black jazz musicians and Mexican immigrants — and those associations drove the backlash from white lawmakers to make the drug illegal.
The war on drugs, as described by author Michelle Alexander in her 2010 book The New Jim Crow, “[the war on drugs]…operates as the New Jim Crow — a system that continues to disproportionately harm Black and Brown citizens across the country.” Today, a Black person is nearly four times more likely than a white person to be arrested for cannabis-related charges, despite equal rates of use.
Each year in June we do our best to acknowledge those harms and help fundraise for the people who are trying to make it right.
The 2026 Mission: Injecting cash back into Black communities
From June 8th through June 19th, nuEra is running our annual Juneteenth fundraiser for the Care Moor Foundation for Civic Engagement.
- On June 19th only, nuEra will donate 5% of gross sales from nuEra House of Brands and Flora Arbor products directly to the Care Moor Foundation.
- From June 8th through June 19th, customers at any nuEra dispensary can also donate directly at the register. Cash. Card. No minimum.
Every dollar goes to an organization that works to deliver essential resources and charitable support to communities in need. Through their collaborative efforts and educational initiatives, the Care Moore Foundation empowers individuals to take an active role in building a more informed, resilient, and engaged society.
And we keep showing up
Along with our annual Juneteenth fundraiser for the Care Moor Foundation, we carry our commitment to equity through the month of June — for Pride.
nuEra partnered with SWAY Dispensary, Illinois’ first queer and Black-owned dispensary, and queen Laganja Estranja herself to launch her official cannabis line. Laganja had been trying to launch a cannabis brand for ten years, but as we know well, queer and trans operators are consistently sidelined — but not on our watch. You can learn more about how we made it all happen.
The Bottom Line
If you shop at nuEra between June 8th and June 19th, you’re not just buying cannabis. You’re backing Black community initiatives and putting cash in the hands of those doing the work.
On June 19th specifically, every purchase of nuEra House of Brands or Flora Arbor sends 5% of gross sales directly to the Care Moor Foundation. That’s not net. That’s not profit. That’s gross sales — because nuEra believes in writing real checks, not marketing math.
This is nuEra.
We cultivate cannabis. We cultivate change.
Everything else is just smoke.