Cannabis and The Black and Brown Community- Hear from Black Business Owners and Employees in the Cannabis/ Marijuana Industry

Prohibition

It was in 1937 that the government decided to wreck our health and freedom with the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (now properly spelled Marijuana Tax Act of 1937); cannabis became taxable. Then, in 1970, cannabis was outlawed with the Controlled Substance Act- also referred to as CSA. This is when the federal government decided that they would control how we treat our medical conditions and the plants that we are allowed to consume.

So, how did we get here? Information from drugpolicy.org states that just after the Mexican revolution, the United States saw an increase in immigration from Mexico. Cannabis came with, as medicine for relaxation, though referred to as “marihuana” (did you catch the tax act in paragraph 1? “Marihuana Tax Act of 1937”).

So, what did the media do?

“ The media began to play on the fears that the public had about these new citizens by falsely spreading claims about the “disruptive Mexicans” with their dangerous native behaviors including marihuana use, the rest of the nation did not know that this “marihuana” was a plant…