Councillor says word ‘marijuana’ has racist history; sparks debate

HALIFAX — A Halifax councillor says he will no longer use the term “marijuana” because it is racist, sparking a social-media debate over the well-used synonym for cannabis.

Coun. Shawn Cleary said a police officer he works with on a cannabis legalization task force recently brought it to his attention that the term has a racist history.

Cleary said that in the early 1900s, during the criminalization of cannabis in the U.S., the word “marijuana” was used to demonize Mexicans.

After doing some research on the term’s origins, Cleary decided to stop using it, saying this week on Twitter: “Let’s do what we can to not perpetuate racism.”

His tweets have prompted a social-media firestorm — including a comment from a fellow Halifax councillor.

“Only in Canada could you smoke it but not say it,” Coun. Matt Whitman said on Twitter in response to a poll from a local Halifax radio station, which tweeted: “Should we stop using the word marijuana?”

Some Twitter users said they were unaware of the word’s racist history and thanked Cleary for informing them, while others questioned the validity of his comments.

The U.S. National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators passed a resolution this year calling for the decriminalization of cannabis, and took note of its history.

“During the 1920s and 1930s, when it was first penalized in various states, cannabis use was portrayed as a cultural vice of Mexican immigrants to the United States, and racist and xenophobic politicians and -government officials used cannabis prohibition specifically to target and criminalize Mexican-American culture and incarcerate Mexican-Americans,” the document said.

“The racist politicians who first criminalized cannabis, used the term ‘marijuana’ … to refer to it, precisely because they wanted to underscore that it was a Latino, particularly Mexican ‘’vice.’ ”