February is Black History Month––a time when people celebrate the enormous contributions Black people have to the US throughout its history. It’s also a time we remember the times we did not, to say the least, return the favor.

We’re a cannabis company. We sell weed. Legally. For profit. The story of how we got here and who paid the price along the way (spoiler alert: not us) is one we can’t ignore. Especially not this month.

The legacies of slavery are very much alive. And one of them is that Black people get arrested for cannabis way more than white people.

The Data Don’t Lie

Despite using cannabis at roughly the same rates as white Americans, Black people in the US are 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession on average nationally (1). Let that sink in. Same usage. Nearly four times the arrests. In some states, it’s even worse. In Pennsylvania and Montana, for example, Black people are more than 8 times as likely to get arrested for weed as white people (2).

In 2020 over 317,000 people were arrested for cannabis possession in the US. Black Americans accounted for 38.8% of those arrests despite representing just 13.6% of the US population and remember––same rates of usage! (3)

Something is off here! Very off! Either the highly respected institutions who produced this data are stoned or… law enforcement in the US is racist. (It’s the latter.)

Weed Literally Became Illegal Because of Racism

The level of on-the-record racism is unhinged. In the 1930s, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was a hateful little man named Harry Anslinger (we don’t know if he was little in stature, but little in heart for sure).

He openly said that he wanted to target weed because most people who smoked it were people of color. He also said that “marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with [Black people], entertainers, and any others.”(4) (Oh no!!!!)  

He often claimed that weed caused people of these “degenerate races” to commit violent crimes (4). (Clearly, he wasn’t hanging out with many stoned people.). Actually, he used the word “marijuana” instead of “cannabis” to associate the drug with Mexican immigrants (5). In 1937, he got the first laws passed that essentially criminalized weed (6). Rude. Somebody please go back in history to when this dude was like 18 and pass him a joint.

The Consequences Are Still Real

The arrest statistics aren’t just numbers. They’re people. People with jobs, families, and futures that can all be derailed by even a single marijuana arrest. And a conviction? Besides the obvious consequence––going to jail––it can make it really hard for someone to find housing or employment. It can even stop them from getting financial aid for college (7). A criminal record follows you for life.

We Can Do Better

Even in states where weed is now legal, many people are still sitting in jail or living with criminal records for producing exactly what we’re now selling in storefronts.

Solutions are possible. In New York, for example, the government is trying to right this historical wrong by giving recreational weed licenses to people who have a pot conviction or their families.

As an industry, we have a responsibility. We’re making money off a plant that ruined way, way too many Black lives for decades (OK, not the plant itself but the stupid laws against it!). The least we can do is not pretend that just because weed is legal now, justice has been served. 

If you want to support fresh starts for people with marijuana convictions, we recommend donating to the Clean Slate Initiative. 

Also, we love you and we love your business but what if this month you check out some Black-owned dispensaries and show them some love? Find them here. 

WEED THE PEOPLE

1. American Civil Liberties Union. “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform.” 2020. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/new-aclu-report-despite-marijuana-legalization-black-people-still-almost-four-times
2. NORML. “NORML Fact Sheet: Racial Disparity in Marijuana Arrests.” December 10, 2024. https://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/racial-disparity-in-marijuana-arrests/
3. Harris, Katharine Neill. “317,793 People Were Arrested for Marijuana Possession in 2020 Despite the Growing Legalization Movement.” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, November 16, 2022. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/317793-people-were-arrested-marijuana-possession-2020-despite-growing-legalization
4. Foundation for Economic Education. “The Racist Roots of Marijuana Prohibition.” February 6, 2024. https://fee.org/articles/the-racist-roots-of-marijuana-prohibition/
5. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “Redressing America’s Racist Cannabis Laws: How Voters and Policymakers Can Enact Change.” October 17, 2024. https://www.naacpldf.org/cannabis-laws-racism/
6. Organization of American Historians. “Pondering Pot: Marijuana’s History and the Future of the War on Drugs.” https://www.oah.org/tah/august-2/pondering-pot/

Marijuana Policy Project. “Cannabis and Racial Justice.” https://www.mpp.org/issues/criminal-justice/cannabis-and-racial-justice/