There’s much to keep track of when it comes to America’s relationship with marijuana, especially the developments of the last decade. The history of cannabis in our country runs deeper than just what we’ve seen in our lifetimes, and that history is full of confusion, racism, and a lot of changing viewpoints.
But why has one plant caused so much controversy, when other substances, like alcohol, have been allowed to grow into multi-billion dollar industries? To understand the present, we have to examine the past, back to a time when Americans projected their fears toward foreigners into cannabis, which lead to the criminalization we are still fighting against today.
So, let’s go for a trip down marijuana memory lane, examining its importance for early American settlers, which saw the government embrace the plant, to some two centuries later, when the government saw marijuana as a lynchpin to start the “war on drugs.” As you’ll see, sometimes it only takes the wrong person in the White House to dismantle decades of work, and it may serve as a reminder to go out and fight for progress, especially today.
