Persistent Inequities in Cannabis Policy

Marijuana policy is slowly but steadily catching up to American preferences. Since 1996, 35 states have loosened cannabis laws. A supposed benefit of policy change, racial justice has too often been eclipsed by arguments touting the economic and personal liberty gains of legalization. [...]recently, the expectation that legalization will improve racial equity has been treated as a foregone conclusion, one requiring no additional action beyond legalization itself. Richard Nixon, first in his presidential campaign and then during his tenure in the White House, exploited and perpetuated white resentment over integration and civil rights by constructing drugs and crime as problems of the urban poor and minorities. Reflecting the changing attitudes on cannabis use, 11 states reduced penalties for cannabis possession between 1973 and 1978.16 But the ensuing intensification of the drug war halted further reforms, and state cannabis laws remained relatively stagnant until 1996, when California legalized cannabis for medical use.