THE RACIST ORIGINS OF MARIJUANA PROHIBITION

While cannabis is being more and more legalized around the world, it seems interesting to come back to the reasons for its prohibition. 

In fact, the roots of the prohibition of the magic plant can sadly be found in a racist soil. 

In the 1800’s, there wasn’t any restriction on the sale or possession of cannabis. Actually, hemp fiber was used to make different kinds of products including clothes, paper or rope. The plant was sometimes used as a medicine but its recreational use wasn’t popular yet. 

In the early 1900s, Mexican immigrants came to the USA to escape the political unrest of their country. Smoking marijuana being part of their culture, they brought the practice of smoking recreational cannabis with them. From then started the process of popularization of the plant and as a consequence a massive propaganda from the media. 

In 1936, a movie called Reefer Madness got released where teenagers smoke weed for the first time leading them to have hallucination, attempted rape and murder. 

Cannabis started to be taxed due to the increasing fear of the substance, enhanced by Harry Anslinger who was named the Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics during the prohibition era. Once national prohibition ended in 1933, Anslinger focused on the fight against marijuana while racism and xenophobia started to kick in the country. 

The drug started to be seen as a violence-inducing substance, which the government associated with the Black and Hispanic communities. Propaganda started to fill in the media, creating an atmosphere of terror around the plant and people of colors. The word “cannabis” got banned by the media to put the emphasis on the word “marijuana” therefore creating a strong association between the drug and the newly arrived Mexican immigrants. Racist beliefs started to root inside people’s mind such as the idea that cannabis made black people “forget their place in society” and that jazz music was created by evil communities under the influence of the plant. 

Discrimination around the use of marijuana got encouraged by the government. In fact, In the first full year after the Marihuana Tax Act was passed, black people were about three times arrested for violating narcotic drug laws than whites folks. Mexican were nearly nine times arrested for the same charge. 

To this day, people of color, and most particularly the black community still suffer from discrimination in regards to the use of cannabis. In fact, the ACLU reported that in 2010, black people were four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people, even though both groups consume marijuana at about the same rate. 

Even though a lot of states in the US have decriminalized the recreational use of marijuana, it doesn’t change the federal restrictions. In fact, some politicians are still playing the racist card. That is the case for the General Attorney Jeff Sessions who wishes to be enforcing federal rules under the idea that “immigrants are bringing drugs, crimes and rapes in the country”. 

Even though society is far from being perfect. Perceptions around the plant are starting to change. In fact, the Pew Research polls showed that 61% of Americans approve the national legalization of cannabis, a huge difference in numbers if we compare to the poll made 30 years ago, which was about 16%. 

Let’s keep fighting in the name of freedom and equality. 

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