'Remember, you're black': African-American families hesitant on marijuana legalization
Health
‘Remember, you’re black’: African-American families hesitant on marijuana legalization
Jesce Horton, who works in the legal industry of marijuana, compares the prevalence of marijuana arrests in the black community during his youth to cancer, in that “a lot of families have someone close to them” who’s been affected. By 1991, marijuana had become a source of immense strife within the black community, with young black men in particular being incarcerated in disproportionate numbers owing to the war on drugs. Beyond its being a “slap in the face” to the communities hurt most by marijuana enforcement, Horton says that with the movement toward legalization, the industry has matured somewhat.
I just felt like the industry was legitimate enough that I wouldn’t have to worry as much as I did when I was riding around in my car with a blunt.
Jesce Horton, 34-year-old who grew up mostly in Virginia and South Carolina
James L. Taylor, director of the African-American studies program at the University of San Francisco, found that religion, “more than anything, tends to shape attitudes around marijuana legalization.” For African-American families, on whom religion and the devastating impact of the war on drugs wield a strong influence, warming up to weed has been a bit more complicated.
Remember, you’re black.
Jacob Plowden, recalling his mother’s words urging caution in any situation
