00:00Reefa. Smokin' at Reefa. Come in the house, smellin' like Reefa.
00:04I'm not high right now. I'm at work. I work here.
00:11Marijuana. Weed. Mary Jane. That's my .
00:14J. Blunt. Spliff.
00:16Dope? It's a dope one?
00:18Skunk. Cannabis.
00:21The Devil's Lettuce.
00:22Yes! I have smoked weed. Gosh.
00:24Hash. Grass.
00:26Bud. I think I started smoking in high school.
00:30In college around 1920.
00:32My very first experience with weed was with my ex-boyfriend's bong.
00:38People smoke weed for a plethora of reasons.
00:41One, it's a lot of fun.
00:42It's social for some people.
00:44Some people it's just a part of their routine.
00:47It's just a nice relaxation habit.
00:50Black people are suffering from generations of trauma
00:54and they're probably using weed as a way to regulate their undiagnosed
00:59like either mental sickness or depression and anxiety.
01:02It used to be used as a slave pacifant in the Caribbean.
01:06And marijuana was, A, during Prohibition,
01:10oftentimes cheaper and more easy to come by than liquor or beer.
01:14And B, it was just relatively inexpensive.
01:18One thing that is really annoying about weed's reputation
01:22is the stereotype that you cannot be successful or educated or intellectual
01:30if you enjoy the Mera Shuhwana.
01:35Everybody smokes.
01:36How do I get my weed? I know a guy.
01:38I have friends who have friends and that's how I get my weed.
01:44Cannabis was in the U.S. for hundreds of years in the 1800s and 1900s.
01:50Cannabis was used and prescribed by pharmacists for pain relief
01:54and its anti-inflammatory properties.
01:57We've also been able to use weed as a way to generate income
02:00where we have been historically left out of certain industries,
02:04not able to build capital.
02:06And these illicit industries have allowed us to make money
02:11in ways that we wouldn't be able to.
02:13This like new wave of the cannabis business
02:18is really refreshing and important,
02:21but I think that it's widely white.
02:23Some of the barriers for entry are really high for people of color.
02:27We're seeing all these essentially like white guys in Patagonia vests
02:31come in and, you know, set themselves up to make hundreds of millions of dollars
02:36during this new green rush.
02:38At the same time, we're still locking up black and brown men
02:43at alarmingly high rates across the country
02:46for doing the exact same thing.
02:49Because we use it, it's been criminalized and stigmatized in very specific ways.
02:54It's obvious that, you know, the whiter you are
02:58or the more white passing you are, the easier that you get off.
03:01The usage rates of marijuana don't differ between white populations and black populations.
03:06First and foremost, it should be legal.
03:09It should be regulated like other drugs.
03:13It's not going to be that helpful unless we talk about
03:15the restorative justice aspects that need to go with any marijuana legalization legislation.
03:22I do believe if marijuana is legalized within the United States,
03:27if you have a non-violence or first-time offender,
03:31you shouldn't have a record.
03:32So there should be programming that should specifically
03:35help minority communities participate in this burgeoning industry
03:39that's going to be, you know, billions and billions of dollars.
03:42You see like our language is changing towards marijuana.
03:46Vote to legalize weed when you have the chance.
03:48That's thanks.
03:49Tonight is because of not controlling the non-violence,
