Jessica Gonzalez, a Jersey City lawyer who has pushed to help those hardest hit by the war on drugs enter the cannabis business world, is getting a chance to do just that.

Gonzalez was named Wednesday as a consultant to help create the New Jersey Business Action Centers Cannabis Technical Assistance Program and Training Academy. The center is housed in the Secretary of States office and when New Jersey legalized marijuana, proponents pushed to have the agency use its expertise to make sure that the nascent cannabis industry was open to all.

Were really trying to target a lot of the communities and individuals who were disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition, Gonzalez told NJ Advance Media. Were really going to cover the gambit from seed to sale. Keep up with the latest on legal weed in New Jersey. Add your email here.

The academy is a free 10-week online educational program offering courses in how to set up a cannabis business. Interested New Jerseyans need to apply and be accepted. As part of the program, students will be paired with mentors, such as lawyers and accountants, to answer their questions and offer advice.

The applicants will come from the social equity, legacy, impact zone, diverse-owned and microbusiness categories, NJBAC Executive Director Melanie Willoughby said.

Some of the information also will be made available to anyone interested in opening a marijuana business, Gonzalez said.

My hope is we do matriculate a lot of students out of this program who are going to be better equipped to make good decisions on whether they want to enter the cannabis space and what kind of business they want to be in, she said.

Gonzalez was involved in the successful effort to legalize recreational weed in the state, leading the social impact committee for the advocacy group NJ CAN 2020, and has since helped interested parties apply for licenses to open their own businesses.

She and other advocates then successfully pushed for this educational and mentor program to make sure that the states cannabis industry wasnt limited to big multi-state enterprises.

Eventually, Gonzalez will be succeeded by an executive director, but for now shes the one in charge of the program.

I have advocated for technical assistance in the state of New Jersey for more than five years, she said. To be able to participate is pretty amazing.

In addition, Rowan University and the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Tuesday announced an apprenticeship program will be created to train workers in the cannabis industry.

Officials said the program, touted as the first of its kind in the nation, includes several labor unions and will use $325,000 in state funds to develop an industry-specific curriculum.

Through this partnership, we will develop degrees, from pre-apprenticeship through graduate degrees, for citizens who will be poised to make an immediate impact on the cannabis retail industry, said Rowan University President Ali A. Houshmand.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at @JDSalant.