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Julia Wheeler Prompt #2

If you’ve been paying attention, then you’d know marijuana has gone mainstream. As the industry for cannabis continues to expand, so do the methods for consuming it. When there’s weed, there’s a way. You can smoke it, vaporize it, eat it, and even rub it on your skin. With these seemingly endless possibilities, the benefits range just as far. Other than the obvious prospect of getting high, marijuana presents various health advantages that have proven to be effective in medical treatment. But when did humans start using weed? The truth is, cultural integration of cannabis has persisted far and wide for many centuries. It was only fairly recently, however, that medical and or recreational usage were legalized in certain states, gaining visibility in the popular media.

For someone just finding out about the drug, it may come as a surprise that it stands as a symbol for racial oppression in the United States. Even the term ‘marijuana’ originates from anti-immigrant sentiments by tying the drug to Mexican culture in the early 20th century(Thompson, 2013). This was despite the fact that cannabis was already present the United States without any federal restrictions. Racist and xenophobic narratives in the press were pushed forward, creating a stigma behind the drug and its users. Shortly after, the Marihuana Tax Act implemented federal taxes on sales. And who do you think this law impacted the most? If you thought white people, you’re wrong.

Looking at statistics from its first year in effect, African-Americans were three times more likely to be arrested from drug charges than white people. If you found that to be alarming, get this; “Mexicans were nine times more likely to be arrested for the same charge(Pagano, 2021).” And this was only the beginning.

By the mid-twentieth century, sentencing for drug convictions were made mandatory under the Boggs Act. This law wasn’t light and fluffy, either. Even first offenders were given up to five years in prison, along with a hefty fine. Of course this is just before the time period we all know and love: the counterculture movement or hippie era, whatever you want to call it. Evidently, this movement was overwhelmingly white, and so, unsurprisingly, participants were able to get away with much more weed usage than their neighbors belonging to a minority. By using their privilege to weasel their way out of law enforcement institutions, the public perception of stoners shifted during this time period. Thank hippies, I guess.

Then came Nixon and the Controlled Substance Act. Uh-oh. Remember that Marihuana Tax Act from before? That was repealed altogether, and cannabis was classified as a Schedule I drug. You know, up there with heroin and needles and scary stuff. And it still remains in this category today!! Can you assume what else still remains the same? I’ll just give you the answer: The criminalization still disproportionately affects minorities. The history of the war on marijuana and its racial implications in the United States is much richer than I am able to include, but the facts remain clear.

According to the ACLU, white and black people use marijuana at similar rates. Yet, black people are still four times more likely to be arrested for possession. In attempt to combat this racially disproportionate enforcement, some states have legalized the recreational and medical usage of marijuana. This does not eliminate the racial bias and injustice integrated into legal systems but rather makes it harder to implement. Today, recreational marijuana is legal in nineteen states, and medically legal in a few more (Hansen, 2021). This is why, in California or Colorado, you can walk to the dispensary on the corner and buy a blunt if you’re twenty-one. At eighteen years old, after you paid fifty dollars to Skype call a doctor on 420doctors.com to get prescribed a medical card, you’re also welcome in that same dispensary.

The increase in demand of marijuana among commonfolk has led to some predictable outcomes. Horkeimer explains how industries are narrowed down such that it is “…no more than the achievement of standardisation and mass production, sacrificing whatever involved a distinction between the logic of the work and that of the social system(Horkeimer, 1944).” This can explain why millennials go on stoney yoga retreats at the same time as previously incarcerated individuals struggle to land a job due to their marijuana related criminal record.

If we circle back to the beginning of this blog, when marijuana was negatively associated with Mexican culture, you may wonder how we, as a society, have gotten to the point where edible cooking shows now air on television. To put things simply, it has to do with aesthetics and respectability politics.

In a time and place with unquantifiable pressure to conform to societal norms imposed by white people, we are conditioned to act such that they meet these standards in one way or another(Sender, 2006). With global adoption of internet use, there is much more room for online forum on weed among the people who use it. More discussion brings more normalization brings less stigmatization. As we also know, the internet is one big advertisement. By framing weed in a way that is easily digestible and appealing to the masses, companies can strategically shift the public perspective in one way or another and eventually recruit customers. Ka-ching, money in their pockets. More specifically, white people’s pockets. 81% of these cannabis businesses owners are white(Pyles, 2021). But how is all this possible when people, mostly minorities are simultaneously sitting in prison for nonviolent, marijuana-related crimes? There’s no justifiable reason; it’s just blatantly immoral.

To dismiss the historical, as well as present-day systematic racism that surrounds the modern cannabis movement is to be negligent. Marijuana consumption under capitalism will continue to be unethical as long as people remain in prison for non-violent weed crimes and minority groups are disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.

References

Lesser, B. (2021, March 16). The History and Use of Marijuana in the Society. Dualdiagnosis.org. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://dualdiagnosis.org/marijana-treatment/reefer-madness-look-evolution-marijuana-society/.

Thompson, M. (2013, July 22). The mysterious history of 'marijuana'. Code Switch. Race in Your Face. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/14/201981025/the-mysterious-history-of-marijuana.

Pagano, A. (2021, March 31). How racism contributed to marijuana prohibition in the US. Business Insider. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition-legalization-2018-2.

Hansen, C., Alas, H., & Davis, E. (2021, October 14). Where is marijuana legal? A guide to marijuana... Where is Marijuana Legal? Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-marijuana-legal-a-guide-to-marijuana-legalization.

Adorno, T.W., & Horkheimer, M. (1944). Dialect of Enlightenment. Verso Books

Sender, K. (2006). Queens for a day:Queer Eye for the straight guyand the neoliberal project. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 23(2), 131–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393180600714505

Pyles, S. (2021, April 20). Millennial money: Changing the face of the cannabis industry. AP NEWS. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-business-race-and-ethnicity-8e047483fc6e83e2e5f6dc971cb4aa73.

Comments

  1. Hey Julia,

    First of all, WOW! Your blog post was probably my favorite to read because it is such a current topic and affects millions of people, minorities especially. What I really loved in your post was how you were able to show how a drug that was once condemned and highly stigmatized has become an example of popular culture. While the information isn’t completely new to me, I really enjoy how you were able to express the injustices surrounding the issue and how from its origin, weed has been racially charged. I love your connections to the readings and how you note how industrialized the substance has become. Seeing how when White people in power can recognize how they can capitalize off of a product and the changes they’ll make to make it work for them is extremely interesting and you did an incredible job of highlighting this injustice. Your choice of the readings was superb, given that they were centralized around industrialization and capitalism. With weed being a completely new industry to everyone, it is saddening to see how many people are still affected from when it wasn’t industrialized(which in some cases was less than 10 years ago). Being a person that has family members who were affected by this injustice before it became an industry, I really appreciate how you were able to highlight the issue and speak so well on it. One of my favorite parts of your blog post was when you stated “If we circle back to the beginning of this blog, when marijuana was negatively associated with Mexican culture, you may wonder how we, as a society, have gotten to the point where edible cooking shows now air on television. To put things simply, it has to do with aesthetics and respectability politics.” I couldn’t agree with you more and I truly respect how aware you are about how this disproportionately affects minorities. *heart emoji*

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  2. Hi Julia,

    I really enjoyed your blog post and I learned a lot from it. While I knew there was racial oppression tied to marijuana I did not realize how much or to the extent that it really is. I am glad that you put statistics as well because that really helped to put it into perspective for me even more. Unfortunately, it is not surprising to read about and it is very sad to me that the issue is still very prevalent. The idea that black people are four times more likely to be arrested for possession is horrible especially considering the times we live in. I also liked that you talked about respectability politics because that was one of the first things that I thought of as well when reading this. It changes how we view things and I think it is important to realize the role that it plays. Sender does a great job of trying to break down those ideas. I also wonder if agency could be talked about in regards to this as well and why some people may think they have more than others. We have talked about agency is many different readings and while there could be different ways to think about it I think it can really affect how people view and interpret things which could play into how marijuana is portrayed online. It is definitely a tricky subject especially because we see people are not treated equally for it. I am really glad that you chose this for your blog post because it was interesting to me and I learned a lot.
    -Maia Curry

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