FALLING SHORT: A 2021 UPDATE ON CANNABIS EQUITY
Cannabis originated in Central Asia thousands of years ago. In the West, it’s been popularized and celebrated by people of color for generations, from early 20th-century jazz musicians sharing “reefer” at jam sessions to migrant workers using it for relaxation.
Unfortunately, the plant’s association with people of color hasn’t always been beneficial. Since the 1930s, when Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (the predecessor of the Drug Enforcement Administration), turned cannabis into a political weapon against minorities—particularly Black people—the enforcement of cannabis laws has been used as a tool for racism and the abuse of police power.
Despite equal rates of use, Black people are close to four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people are. But laws are changing. Across the country, legal- and medical-cannabis industries are flourishing into multibillion-dollar markets. New data indicates that Americans spent over $17.5 billion on legal cannabis in 2020.
And while fortunes are being made for those with the capital and connections to cash in on the so-called “green rush,” many of the same communities
