If you are one of the ones that have any negative views of cannabis or the people who use it, have you ever questioned where your beliefs came from? And whether they were valid? I can understand when something is portrayed as dangerous, causing unwanted behaviours and such, we want to be cautious, and when it’s something new to us, it is easy to believe what is being said publicly and advertised. Through these views that are fed to us, they then activate our fears and survival mode every time we hear or see anything about it, therefore confirming those messages. Instilling mass fear is the easiest way to control people, and we’ve seen it done many times over. In fact, most hate that exists in the world is from fear and lies. Fear is created from something that’s unknown and unfamiliar to you, with only stories you’ve heard about. If the stories are negative lies, the fear becomes stronger, as your mind thinks you’re in danger and you go into the defense immediately. As more is uncovered through education, sharing and communication, it has been proven many times over that cannabis is not only not dangerous or deadly in anyway, but rather healing for many of us. In fact, cannabis use has been traced back for centuries, dating as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, used by many different cultures around the world as medicine, for religious ceremonies and healings as well as for textiles.
So why was marijuana made illegal and classified as a schedule I drug? Racism. Lies created by the government to lock away people of different cultures and colors. The claims started in 1910, as many Mexicans began to move to the United States, bringing with them their tradition of marihuana. With the lies circulating, many states began to ban the use of marihuana. However, it wasn’t until 1937 that the Marijuana Federal Tax Act was passed, overseen by Harry J. Anslinger. When appointed to a newly created department, he started a high profile campaign that sought to ban marijuana not because of safety reasons, as he claimed, but fully on the basis of racism. As most of the users he claimed were minorities, and it created “negative effect on these “degenerate races,” such as inducing violence or causing insanity. Furthermore, he noted, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” Perhaps even more worrisome to Anslinger was pot’s supposed threat to white women’s virtue. He believed that smoking pot would result in their having sex with black men.” https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-marijuana-illegal-in-the-us. That Act was then replaced by the Controlled substance Act in 1969. To read the full article. Go to link: Or just search why weed was made illegal.
Because of racism, weed was made to be feared and wrongfully categorized. All the stigmas we believe about weed in our lifetime were created from such propagandas. I personally don’t know any violent weed smoker and I’m pretty sure all of you can say the same. As for the women wanting to have sex with the black men…. it’s not a lie in that weed can intensify your sexual energy, your innate desires, and elevate your confidence, but the black men part was just insecurities and fears of Anslinger himself I would say. Perhaps Anslinger should’ve smoked then he would’ve relaxed his fearful, insecure, uptight ass a bit.
With weed classified as a schedule I drug, countless number of people were and still are incarcerated unnecessarily. And studies have shown that blacks are almost 4 times more likely to be arrested for weed than whites. However, nowadays, we don’t need a study to tell us that blacks are more likely for anything when it comes to cops than whites are. We as people with a voice need to first understand that those stigmas we have about weed and users of weed are based on lies. Even back then, no Drs supported Anslinger claims in weed being a dangerous substance. It was a way to control and suppress people of color, and still remains to this day. With all we know of cannabis today and the fact that it was deemed as essential business during covid, there should be absolutely no one in jail for weed alone. None. Released and charges drops with programs to help them regain their life by putting them in job positions within the cannabis industry! There’s been progress but it has to continue with some speed and momentum.
Besides the severity of punishment relating to cannabis being jail, on an everyday basis, there’s still judgements out there relating to the consumers of cannabis because of stigmas created from beliefs past. So what are some of the stigmas? The most common ones I’ve come across are that it makes you lazy and unproductive. It kills brain cells and make you dumb and forgetful. It’s a gateway drug. You can’t be successful or a professional and smoke weed. You can’t function properly on cannabis. It’s wrong and it should be hidden. It’s addictive. Although more people are becoming more accepting of cannabis, with the legalization in individual states, more information and education of cannabis for medicinal use, the negative views still remains for recreational use. None of those stigmas are true but people believe them. Even some smokers carry the stigmas themselves to a certain extent. I’ve seen it personally with friends, who are occasional smokers, will still hold more negative views of people who are daily users, associating the fact that they smoke all the time, as the reason for certain negative behaviors. Some consumers even hide their use due to a level of shame they might hold themselves. A lot of times these beliefs may not even be conscious to them as they are such an ingrained unconscious belief of society from generations past. These stigmas and beliefs are solidified from decades of social conditioning and that conditioning is hard to break from. But that’s where communicating and sharing such information and our experiences with those who don’t know comes in.
The more we share the benefits with people, the more we show the elevation it provides, the more it will be normalized. A propaganda movie called Reefer Madness was what the original poster was created for. It took one person who decided to share his opinion on something he falsely believed, had the power to share his belief on a large scale by creating fear around it, and then made a law based on this false belief. His lies evoked one believer to create the above mentioned movie in 1936, to further spread the fear by portraying such evils of this “drug”. If one person can cause all that, we as a community can surely shift those negative beliefs into positive ones. Let’s work together to change those believes more each day by showing our narratives of it. Our truths of why cannabis is a healing ally, not an enemy.
