BOSTON, MA – MARCH 3: Kobie Evans, left, and Kevin Hart pose for a portrait in their marijuana store, Pure Oasis, at its location in Boston’s Dorchester on March 3, 2020. The store will be the first owned by people enrolled in a program designed to ensure that some of legalization’s windfall benefits communities that were hardest hit by the war on drugs. The store will open on March 9. So far, 18 of more than 300 pot licenses awarded in Massachusetts have gone to people in the states economic empowerment or social equity programs, which offer training and faster reviews for people from areas with high marijuana arrest rates. Hart and Evans will be the first economic empowerment applicants to open. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES
Like democracy, marijuana legalization is an ongoing social experiment. And like empowering citizens with rights to assemble, vote, and try to self-govern, ending the practice of imprisoning people for buying, selling, and cultivating cannabis is policy rooted in social justice.
And like democracy, legalization is imperfect and undone—and requires consumers to make deliberate choices, like choosing to buy legal weed from Black and brown people. Whether by design or by neglect, this is difficult to do, which means the project is further away from realization.
This is an unfortunate development. It’s wrong thing, and it also breaks the promise made to voters. Drug-policy reform—and, specifically, legalizing weed—is a critical tool for ending systemic racism.
The post Legal Cannabis Is Almost Entirely White. Here’s How To Buy Weed From Black And Brown People (And Why It Matters) appeared first on L.A. Cannabis News.
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