The war on drugs has been declared an unmitigated failure — and for good reason. Prohibitionist policies left America’s jails filled with millions of individuals, many of them charged with relatively minor drug offenses, and minority communities were disproportionately targeted. Most states with legal cannabis markets have tried to correct these wrongs by giving these minority communities a leg up in the cannabis industry. Now, members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors are asking the Biden administration to do the same at the federal level. During its 89th annual meeting, the organization passed a comprehensive resolution urging President Joseph Biden and Congress to federally legalize cannabis, expunge prior cannabis convictions and allow legal cannabis sales with a focus on social equity. The conference represents mayors from cities across America and it notes that cannabis has the potential to become a “global multi-trillion industry,” stating that America’s cannabis sector has already generated billions of dollars in sales. However, the emphasis of the resolution was on social equity, and the organization cited statistics showing just how racially disparate the impacts of prohibitionist policies were.
CannabisNewsWire, 09/21/2021 04:20:00