Diminishing Cannabis Opposition With Science and Justice
Until recently, cannabis legalization efforts largely ignored the eyeopening history of the plant’s use and prohibition in America. People are often shocked to learn that cannabis, in all its forms, was a very important plant in the United States and abroad.
We have really only been exposed to the “devil’s lettuce” or reefer madness that turned into the “war on drugs” and millions of dollars spent on DARE programs designed to scare teens into staying away from the world’s best “gateway drug.”
Growing up in pre-gentrifıed Brooklyn in the ‘80s, I know fırst-hand the dichotomous existence of saying “no” to drugs to avoid unwanted problems with the police or school, while living with a strict, but fun-loving, single mother and supportive grandparents in a stable and academically challenging home, which also smelled like weed and collard greens most of the time.
I can’t speak enough about the diffıculties growing up in Brooklyn, living in the land of loud sirens and “suspects.” Never wanting to be caught up in either, I never used drugs, although it didn’t prevent me from being exposed to harmful and terrifying police harassment common in East New York.
History ignored
Prior to the 1930s, cannabis was part of the American pharmacopeia, with products available over-the-counter, and well-known pharmaceutical companies manufacturing many of these cannabis products. Understanding that hemp is cannabis, too, the crop ultimately transitioned from an essential part of U.S. agriculture, with predominantly slaves cultivating and growing, to the unknown crop that it is today.
While Harry Angslinger was ranting about “darkies” and marijuana to the general public, he was conspicuously linked to developing industry ticoons, William Hearst and Lamont DuPont, both of whom suffered from poor growth because of the competition from hemp-derived textiles.
Through the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, Anslinger was clever enough to kill two birds with one stone; by outlawing marijuana, he made only industrial hemp growth legal, but with heavily imposed taxes. While industrial hemp faded into near non-existence, overshadowed by the growth of paper and plastics, marijuana use persisted at a relatively equal rate among all races.
Very shortly after the civil rights movement, America was responsible for the purposeful cover-up of physician-led opposition to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which deemed newly discovered delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) a Schedule I illegal substance. This law, and Nixon’s public declaration of the “war on drugs” just over 50 years ago, ultimately led to millions of Americans and immigrants arrested primarily for cannabis possession.
Racially-biased cannabis criminalization perpetuated recidivism in communities, creating a prison pipeline in most hoods across America. We now have signifıcant proof that the war on drugs was purposely designed to disproportionately impact BIPOC communities using racially-biased enforcement of criminalization in policing, sentencing, and collateral consequences, such as child custody.
Building back
As a Black woman, I am deeply committed to providing leadership in the public and private sectors to demonstrate how our knowledge of cannabis science and the legacy of its traditional use, in this country and abroad, can create regulatory frameworks and business ecosystems that signifıcantly impact the sustainable health and wealth of all communities, most especially the communities that were purposely targeted and destroyed through cannabis prohibition.
I am continuously inspired by my work with CHEM, including the Association for Cannabis Health Equity and Medicine (ACHEM). Led by the brilliant and generous Dr. Rachel Knox, along with her family of doctors — endocan-nabinologists specifıcally — ACHEM has brought a combined 75+ years of experience across emergency medicine, anesthesiology, family medicine, and preventative medicine to the cannabis industry.
As a cannabis patient of ACHEM’s American Cannabinoid Clinics, I am grateful for their service to this industry and over 60,000 patients, and countless people across the world, now with the means to reclaim their legacy in cannabis through the Knox family’s education, empathy, and empowerment provided over the past six years. This is the work to build the future of cannabis that we deserve after nearly 100 years of the legacy denied. Dasheeda Dawson, Co-Founder & Chief Strategist, Cannabis Health Equity Movement (CHEM)™; Chair, Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition (CRCC); Founder Author, The WeedHead™ & Company