A proverbial green rush is sweeping the United States of America. Once unthinkable, marijuana legalization is now taking hold in several states across the country.
After a long fight against the forces of “reefer madness” public opinion has swung in favor of the green economy. Now marijuana is legal for adult use in nine US states and momentum in other states is growing. Despite a newly-hostile Justice Department, support for marijuana legalization remains at an all-time high of 64 percent – including 51 percent support among Republicans, according to Gallup.
It wasn’t always this way. Although marijuana has been used for thousands of years for medical purposes, it was criminalized in the 1910s and 20s. The first anti-marijuana laws were enacted in the Midwest and the Southwest, targeted at Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. Racial stereotypes have long been used as the impetus to enact harsh anti-drug laws. Early anti-cocaine laws were directed at Black men, and the first anti-drug laws in the US were targeted against Chinese immigrants.