Solvable Problems: Marijuana, Cash Bail, Homelessness

Finding the fix for three concentric concerns facing Americans

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Marijuana, and its active element THC, have long been a part of America. Hemp — the plant from which marijuana comes — was a popular crop for colonists. THC was a frequent element in their over-the-counter remedies. For centuries, the drug was accepted. The demonization of marijuana as an illicit drug has its roots in the pushback against Mexican immigrants during the early 20th century. Its full criminalization occurred during Pres. Richard Nixon’s 1970s War on Drugs when his administration designated marijuana as a Schedule I drug.

Nixon’s domestic policy advisor, John Ehrlichman, later admitted that the criminalization of marijuana was a political choice: “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”