The Problem With Perfection: A Legalization Opinion
As flawed human beings, sometimes we just don’t get it right.
Whether it’s by accident or carelessness, ignorance or stubbornness, sometimes we’re forced into a corner and have to amend the mistakes or problems we’ve created. But that would also require us to not only see them, but understand why they came about in the first place in order to effectively move forward. That’s life! It’s okay. We get so caught up in trying to be perfect or get it “just right”, which at times may make it hard to admit fault about decisions entirely based on subjectivity. Perfection will never be attained, and that’s why it’s our responsibility to hold ourselves accountable and learn to admit when we’re or things are wrong. Over long periods of time, circumstances change, people change, our society changes, sometimes for the better, but also for the worse. Who knows if us at Ecquinabis would even be rockin’ and rollin’ out here if perceptions and opinions in our larger community never changed!
After marijuana’s high-key questionable scheduling, marijuana was considered a delinquents drug that would only lure white women to black men and the “satanic” world of jazz. During the 60’s the plant was rebranded as a hippie’s drug only used by low-lifes’, the uneducated, mindless free-spirits, and no-good black and brown people. Today, each state has it’s own battleground when it comes to cannabis. Some are confused as to why legalization isn’t easier. It’s because the government has to fix a complex problem they created and cannot ignore: the racially-based convictions of marijuana. Today, cannabis has had such a glamorous revamp! They tell you it’s the suburban housewife, perhaps your grandmother, the cancer patient, or savvy millennial that are faces of cannabis, while in the background black and brown people are still, at this very second, being picked up for the very thing that the government is now looking to profit off of. It’s as if in the larger new (and more widely accepted), rebranded cannabis space, minorities don’t exist.
When moving forward with cannabis legalization, the very people that were caught on the ugly side of cannabis scheduling need to be included.
How are we supposed to ensure that this new industry works for, benefits, and includes all people?
That means, women, people of color, and people with prior marijuana possession convictions. We can’t go back and undo the damage that has been strategically institutionalized against minority communities. We can’t get back the years or lost memories of loved ones that have been incarcerated or killed due to prejudiced and racist laws passed to keep minorities further oppressed and marginalized. We can’t erase the past, but moving forward with cannabis legalization it’s up to us to ensure the government cannot erase us.
We must correct our perceptions of we think are capable leaders and innovators. With the same tools and playing field, a leader is no gender, no race, no past. Cannabis legalization is such a powerful thing, and gives our country a way to heal old and open wounds, but that can only be done if done right. The reason why cannabis is getting legalized is because those for it want change, but change never comes from more of the same.
We have to be different from the generations before us, and cognizant of their faults and mistakes. That is the only way we move forward on the right path.
Cannabis doesn’t need to be made palatable and market as something used by “friendly faces”. The use of and enjoyment of cannabis by all people across socioeconomic statuses, races, and genders needs to be normalized, not just the plant itself.
If a cannabis bill gets passed, without keeping minorities and women in mind and on that very bill, the government cannot be trusted to correct it. I repeat: the government cannot be trusted to correct it. This isn’t a game, this isn’t politics, this isn’t business, this is the crux of people’s lives. And because of this, we must work together to pass just legalization bills. What is the data of diversity of minority owners, executives, and board members of cannabis-related businesses in the US today? What is the process like now and how has it and will be made better for people trying to get their record expunged so they can move onto better lives? This information needs to be publicly disclosed in order to keep lawmakers accountable for the things they’ve promised. Learning how to correct is not a sign of weakness, but it is a gift.
