Black people and white people smoke weed at a similar rate, yet black people are criminalized more often. In Colorado and Washington, for example, recreational weed is legal, yet black people are twice as likely to be arrested for for breaking the states’ pot laws. In the latest episode of MTV’s “Decoded,” appropriately released on 4/20, host and producer Franchesca Ramsey examines if legalizing weed can help fight discrimination. Nothing can blow your high quite like realizing weed’s relationship to racism. And black people are notoriously shut out from weed-related business and marketing in states where it is legal, according to a 2016 BuzzFeed News report.
Nothing can blow your high quite like realizing weed’s relationship to racism.
Black people and white people smoke weed at a similar rate, yet black people are criminalized more often. In the latest episode of MTV’s “Decoded,” appropriately released on 4/20, host and producer Franchesca Ramsey examines if legalizing weed can help fight discrimination.
Ramsey notes that the stigma behind people of color who smoke weed started a long time ago.
“Weed was originally made illegal in the ‘30s because America has historically been racist as f**k.” She highlighted a disturbing claim from the first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics,...
Read the full article @ Huffington Post