The move is long overdue , especially in light of the disproportionate criminalization of Black and Brown users and sellers of the drug . According to the ACLU , “ Marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and whites , yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession .” While there have been many benefits stemming from legalization , there has been one negative impact : the enrichment of those who were privileged to begin with , rather than those who were most impacted . This is less the result of legalization than of ongoing inaction on righting racial inequities in our justice , legal , and economic systems .
There are steps that the government could take to remedy such inequities — if it wanted to . The trouble is that those in power have instead sought to demonize marijuana , its users , and its impacts , resisting the dissemination of justice at every step .
When California voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2016 , the federal Drug Enforcement Agency under then-President Barack Obama denied a petition to reschedule marijuana at the federal level , saying the drug “ lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision .” Still , states were already responding to a sea change in public opinion and were slowly legalizing cannabis .
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