#420

Cannabis and Marijuana: Racist Wordplay and The War on Drugs

Understanding cannabis’ coded language, laws, and how it sparked The War on Drugs

GFC: Grown Folk Conversations
3 min readApr 20, 2022

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Photo by paje victoria on Unsplash

As you celebrate #420 please remember it’s still a polarizing plant of privilege. Cannabis is a billion-dollar business and alternative medical option that many Black and brown people can’t legally access to due financial and other systemic barriers. These are intentional and started with a word — a code word that changed the laws and language of “illegal drugs”. The New York Time’s Archive has a great timeline of reports, studies and laws.

More than a word — it started a war

Up until last year, I’d never heard of cannabis. I’ve heard of weed, pot, reefer, and of course marijuana — but never cannabis. Cannabis is the medical term for marihuana.

A Brookings report and the documentary, Grass is Greener explained marijuana’s racist history and how the name was changed to connect Hispanic people to the illegal use of cannabis. It was one of the first steps in The War on Drugs and propaganda.

I’ve never used it, but there are two government reports that support what I’ve read and heard from so many people who’ve benefited from the healing properties of this plant and now

As of February 3, 2022 37 states, four territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of cannabis products. (NSCL.org)

This includes the legalization of recreational cannabis in 18 states, Washington, DC and Guam.

It should also be noted that most insurance companies don’t cover the medical marijuana/cannabis application, evaluation or license fees. They also don’t cover the cost of medical marijuana — which can cost $50–200+ for a month’s worth of medication. Consequently, this is a cash-heavy business.

Pew Trust reports that less than 3% of legal cannabis businesses are owned by Black or people of color while the majority of marijuana arrests from 2010–2018 are disproportionately Black people according to the ACLU. Drug arrests and convictions can disqualify individuals for everything from college financial aid, to housing assistance programs, and…

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GFC: Grown Folk Conversations

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