Reversing the Damage of Cannabis Criminalization

Yes Magazine -  The criminalization of cannabis users over the last half-century has caused staggering damage that includes more than 20 million arrests in this country over the last 50 years. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simple possession of marijuana. This has led

The criminalization of cannabis users over the last half-century has caused staggering damage that includes more than 20 million arrests in this country over the last 50 years. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simple possession of marijuana. This has led to lifelong criminal records and, in many cases, ongoing imprisonment.

It has also resulted in vast amounts of collateral damage, including student loans denied, housing forfeited, jobs lost, voting rights revoked, and families broken up because of the barriers raised by criminal records. The cycles of poverty thus engendered can last for generations and have disproportionately affected communities of color, who are disproportionate targets of overzealous (racist) police attention. Black and white folks use cannabis at approximately the same rates, yet Black people are arrested almost four times as often.

An increasing popular awareness of these injustices, along with a growing sense that we’ve been sold a bill of lies about the harms of cannabis, is contributing to a sea change in public opinion in favor of cannabis legalization. Currently, 94% of Americans believe in the right to legally access medical cannabis. It is difficult to think of anything else that this many Americans agree on. Thanks to the concerted efforts of medical patients, dedicated activists, and sympathetic lawmakers, cannabis is currently legal for medical usage in 38 states and fully legal for adult usage in 23 states. No states are discussing “unlegalizing” cannabis.

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