About Sweetleaf Health Equity
3,000+ patients and veterans in the Sweetleaf network
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1,600+ Pounds of cannabis accessed
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$0 paid by patients
|
3,000+ patients and veterans in the Sweetleaf network | 1,600+ Pounds of cannabis accessed | $0 paid by patients |
Sweetleaf Health Equity’s mission
Sweetleaf Health Equity organizes services for low-income veterans and terminally-ill patients to facilitate receiving free Medical Cannabis. Established in 1996, we are one of the oldest Medical Cannabis groups in the world. In the past two and a half decades, patients in our network have received over $5 million worth of compassionate cannabis, with over $2 million of that given in 2021, thanks to the generosity of our donors and partners.
With the growth of the industry and the increase in retail cannabis, the needs of low-income patients are greater than ever. The next era of compassionate cannabis requires that we go beyond individual donations. Corporate sponsors can join our movement to accommodate more patients and support more health equity programs.
Sweetleaf Health Equity began as the Sweetleaf Collective in 1996 in San Francisco, California, the birthplace of medical marijuana and the cannabis compassion movement. In the beginning, Sweetleaf helped 5 AIDS patients access free medical cannabis. We now support more than 3,000 patients and veterans in the Sweetleaf network by facilitating access to free medical cannabis, get support from various special programs, and actively advocate for health equity in California. At Sweetleaf, we remain committed to compassionate access to under-served communities and ensuring health equity for all who would benefit from free, safe access to medical-grade cannabis.
Joe Airone is the founder and director of Sweetleaf Health Equity. He has been an activist in the Bay Area for more than 20 years, working with groups providing food to the elderly, shelter to the homeless, and cannabis to low-income, terminally ill people.
He ran a community art center in San Francisco’s Mission District for five years, creating a forum for artists, musicians, and performers to practice and show their art free of charge. Joe also founded the Humanitarian Circus and has traveled worldwide, making free circus shows for refugees and orphans in war zones and developing countries. His last mission was to the island of Lesbos where he performed for Syrian refugee children after they had made the harrowing journey from Turkey to Greece.