Jun 05 , 2020
Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 33 states and DC. While the figures look rewarding, at least, for the over 55 million marijuana users in the US, the colored communities, have more pressing concerns than evaluating numbers.
For the blacks, the high-level of racism in the marijuana world discourages competition in the booming marijuana business.
The figures speak volumes. A 2017 Survey stated that blacks account for barely 4.3 percent of stakeholders and owners in the marijuana business.
In Massachusetts, for example, Blacks and Latinos are low on the spectrum of cannabis trade license holders. Although many prospective cannabis entrepreneurs claim to have individual reasons for not pursuing a license to operate in the rich marijuana industry, the indices point to a collective grievance – RACISM.
Legality and Racism
From records and current high-level racial disparity in the marijuana world, the Blacks have zero confidence in the process. Even across jurisdictions where marijuana is entirely legal, racial inequality has locked out interested African Americans.
Over time, the push for cannabis legalization has brought hope and is believed to regulate the industry and give a level playing ground for interested investors.
Sadly, so far, that’s not what it is.
Is it no longer a call for legalization, but one for economic justice. Several racial cannabis laws, either by circumstance, or design, limit certain racial communities within the industry.
After Illinois destroyed the medical cannabis barrier, hopes were expectedly high.
Disappointedly, it got more evident that the same group who suffered selective ‘war on drug’ enforcement encountered a higher hurdle – accessing conventional banking services and capital to exploit the market potentials.
These financial roadblocks have always been structural, with a history of years of economic disinvestment, discrimination, and segregation suffered by the colored communities.
Medical Marijuana Over Pharmaceuticals
The whole attempt to brand marijuana as a “gateway drug” is but a hoax. A notable majority of marijuana users do not switch to other hard drugs. The increase in violent crime myth is just what it is – a baseless myth.
Talking medicine, thousands of patients depend on medical cannabis for conditions like cancer, PTSDA, and chronic pains. Some clinical trials point to medical marijuana as a more potent and less harmful option to opioids.
Opioid-overdose-related deaths in jurisdictions with cannabis-friendly laws were approximately 25 percent less than in marijuana-hostile states. Also, states with medical marijuana policies recorded a 23 percent drop in substance-abuse-related medical calls. Again, these same states recorded fewer hospitalizations for opioid treatments. What’s more?
Still, the arrest continues.
Painfully, regardless of the promising figures and the huge income generated by the state governments from marijuana activities, cannabis-related arrests spike consistently as the years go by.
2018 alone recorded over 660,000 arrests. Worrisomely, 90% of the total arrests were simply for possession. Worse still, the arrests are disproportionally against the colored communities even when the cannabis activities involve as many blacks as whites.
This racial gap exists even in friendly cannabis states like Colorado, where marijuana passes for recreational use.
Beyond medicine, recreation, and revenue.
While the therapeutic gains, recreational benefits, and, of course, revenue are typical fronts for the cannabis legalization campaign, there’s more.
It also involves correcting the age-long racist policies which unjustly hunt Blacks and Browns. It involves undoing the inhumanity done on the innocent target communities. And, indeed, it has to do with advocating for equal opportunities, skin regardless, in the new and promising cannabis niche.
While it’s a good idea to strike out the prohibitory marijuana laws, that’s only half the journey. Eliminating or, at least, reducing jail terms for marijuana-related offenses is as essential.
Besides, the individual standpoints across states mean a state could punish one severely for doing similar business considered a goldmine in a neighboring state.
Also, legalization does not consider people doing time for cannabis-related crimes. It’d be thoughtful to release inmates who got in jail for marijuana-related offenses.
The United States Department of Justice reports $1 billion as estimated expenditure on cannabis-related crimes annually. A significant portion of this sum goes into prosecution and incarceration for mere consumption or possession.
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to afford a good lawyer to make a strong fight of your case, marijuana’s illegality may not burden you as much as the poor helpless blacks who cannot access a professional legal aid.
While legalization may not end the racial war in America, it would be a great leap.
Why is marijuana illegal in the US?
Simple answer – RACISM
In the early 20th century, cannabis – as commonly referred to across the US – was used as a drug in some quarters. However, the 1910 Mexican revolution saw an exodus of Mexicans into the US. The immigrants came smoking marijuana.
The Americans, with increasing fear for the new culture, soon tagged the drug the worst of names, including evil weed. They also claimed it causes a ‘lust for blood”.
The fear associated with the new branding – no thanks to the media –aroused widespread concern that saw many states promoting bills to ban weed.
Soon, around the 1930s, anti-cannabis became a full-fledged war. And soon, Harry J. Anslinger, the then Federal Bureau of Narcotics head, fought tooth and nail for the ban of marijuana at the federal level.
He, Anslinger, claimed the African Americans accounted for the majority of pot smokers and that the drug was negatively affecting the ‘’degenerated races.’’ He labeled the drug a cause of insanity and violence among the colored.
“reefer (another name for marijuana) makes darkies think they’re as good as white men,” Anslinger’s words.
Legalization Works
At least, Shafer Report publication about 50 years ago, exposed the inefficiency and irrelevancy of prohibitory marijuana laws. Still, President Nixon, disregarding his advisors, proceeded with the “War on Drugs.”
Today, the racist policy has widely contributed to the incarceration menace that has gulped a whopping 1 trillion dollars and ruined many lives.
While the feds remain adamant, states are making individual evidence-based cannabis policies. Interestingly, the first marijuana-legal states have exposed the truth — Marijuana legalization works.
First, marijuana-related arrests in these cannabis-friendly states have taken a nose-dive. The states are saving many hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been spent on arrests and incarceration of harmless marijuana users. Instead, the same states are generating billions from licensing, tax, and fee revenues.
Do you agree?