The Racist history of Cannabis Prohibition and how it still affects Black and Brown Americans today

If you don't know who Harry Anslinger is...you should. He said the following....

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men. The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
"I wish I could show you what a small marihuana cigarette can do to our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That’s why our problem is so great, the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally"


Marijuana has been illegal in this country for close to 100 years, but many people don't know why it became illegal in the 1st place. Harry had a personal vendetta against people of color, jazz music, and a fierce need to prove that whites were superior and that BIPOC were basically...trash. There was a HUGE push with nationwide propaganda using fear tactics to "scare" the White Majority into keeping Cannabis public enemy number one.




In 1850, cannabis, a plant with a history of medical usage for thousands of years, was listed for the first time in the United States Pharmacopeia, third Ed., as “Extractum Cannabis or Extract of Hemp.” The listing continued until 1942, 5 years after the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act (MTA) of 1937. The 1937 Act began a period of federal prohibition, a policy that continues today under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), which classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use, like heroin, and more dangerous than cocaine or methamphetamine. Which means according to the feds marijuana is more harmful and addictive than Adderall, Xanax, and Opioid pain medication.

President Richard Nixon in 1971 declared a US "war on drugs" that, over the decades, fueled mass incarceration and the crisis at the US's southern border without preventing Americans from accessing dangerous drugs, and one of his top aides say it's because it was a racist policy implemented as a power grab.

Although cannabis use is roughly equal among blacks and whites, African Americans are over three times more likely to be arrested or cited for cannabis possession as compared to whites. More than six million arrests occurred between 2010 and 2018, and Black people are still more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people in every state, including those that have legalized marijuana.




In 2012, a Human Rights Watch report tracked 30,000 people in New York City who had been arrested for marijuana possession. None of them had previous convictions. Ultimately, 90% had no future felony convictions, and only 3.1% committed a subsequent violent crime. Imagine that... weed isn't a gateway to felony crime.

#blackhistory365 #systemicracismexists

https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-pr…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7173675/

https://www.mpp.org/…/criminal…/cannabis-and-racial-justice/

https://gritdaily.com/cannabis-prohibition-is-racist-legal…/

https://www.businessinsider.com/nixon-adviser-ehrlichman-an…

https://www.aclu.org/…/tale-two-countries-racially-targeted…

https://wayofleaf.com/…/going-to-prison-for-marijuana-posse…

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