Decriminalization & Legalization: Moving forward

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m feeling pretty fired up this year as we move into 2022.

After two really tough years for most everyone, I started this year with a lot of compassion and motivation. Unlike past years, the drive is holding on beyond the resolutions that usually disappear after a week and into a new way of seeing the world, and especially a new way of seeing our store.

Our store is much more than just a retail place of business. We, as owners, have a dream too. 

As the conversation around the country focuses on policing, criminal and racial justice, and social equity, the topic of the “War on Drugs” must play a central part. All along, one consistent target for the nation’s cannabis laws were communities of color.

Despite cannabis usage rates between whites and non-whites being similar, Black Americans are arrested for cannabis offenses at a rate of nearly 4:1, compared to whites. And in a nation with nearly 700,000 cannabis-related arrests each year (a number that was over 800,000 a few years ago), these policies affect an enormous number of Americans.

Over the past several years, states and localities have passed legalization and decriminalization reforms in an effort to rein in such arrest numbers. In states that have legalized, arrests have fallen dramatically; although in many such places, racial disparities in arrests have changed little. 

Refer Madness is fiction.

“The Reefer Madness campaign was an attempt to create a narcotics scare and, in particular, to paint marijuana as a narcotic that was as dangerous as heroin and cocaine,” says Alexandra Chasin, author of Assassin of Youth: A Kaleidoscopic History of Harry J. Anslinger's War on Drugs. [source]

Legalization or decriminalization are steps in the right direction. But, we are still surrounded by people who see marijuana as a gateway drug, and still many are getting arrested for it, especially people of color. 

So moving into 2022, I feel ready to fight against this and stand up for cannabis, and for black and brown Americans.

When we first opened the store three years ago we felt like we had to separate “CBD” or “hemp” from marijuana and make sure people thought we were not involved or saw it as a separate plant.  We didn’t even sell flower in the beginning because of the stigma connected to it.  Now we educate about how “hemp” and “marijuana” are both cannabis and the only difference is that one plant has a higher THC cannabinoid and is more psychoactive. 

We educate about the importance of all the cannabinoids and we do not separate or hide behind CBD anymore. With that said, we support the legalization of all cannabis and want all of our customers to see the importance of standing up to this racial and human injustice.    

This is why we changed our logo and we hope it brings a little support to a medicine that has helped so many people. We are no longer hiding behind a lotus plant. We feel proud to be growing and selling cannabis to you and hope that everyone can feel comfortable with it too.  

What do you think? Share your thoughts with us on social! Have Questions? Visit our FAQ page or email us and we'll be happy to answer your questions!