Why the Cannabis Industry Avoids the Word "Marijuana"
The term “marijuana” has a deceptively racist history. In the 1930s, the Spanish slang word "marijuana" was appropriated and employed by US government officials and media outlets to associate Latino and other POC (Black people specifically) with cannabis. Racist journalists and other media personalities instigated a moral panic surrounding the plant — claiming false, irrational behaviors, association with the devil, and that it was the source of social and political turmoil at the time; They placed the blame of that era's violence on Black and Brown people who happened to use cannabis at higher rates than White Americans.
Harry Anslinger, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was the most influential anti-cannabis advocate. He launched an immensely successful, 30 year long, film, television, and media campaign against cannabis now known as the Reefer Madness era, named after the film Reefer Madness.
Here are some of his testimonies:
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind… Most marijuana smokers are N*groes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage.”
“Reefer makes ******* think they’re as good as white men…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
Journalists and government officials were able to use the stigma the film and media industry generated to encourage political action to not only ban cannabis, but also to motivate deportation and incarceration initiatives. This is particularly infuriating because White Americans at the time also used cannabis as medicine but strictly under the label "cannabis."
For many people in the past and the present, the word “marijuana" has a painful, seething history. We cannot forget it's root because less than 100 years ago, it was appropriated and weaponized to fulfill racist political agendas. Thousands are still living, breathing, imprisoned for challenging the policies set by the Reefer Madness campaign to this very day. The seed this campaign planted by initially demonizing "marijuana" use grew into a monstrous punitive system, a well oiled machine held together by the War on Drug narrative and carried out by the prison industrial complex, school to prison pipeline, and police corruption. These are the reasons we choose the word cannabis over marijuana.
Reefer Madness is not over, we are still in prohibition. The campaign led directly up to the War on Drugs which still has very palpable impacts on Black and Brown communities. Masses are still incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis crimes, meaning the campaign is successful to this day. With federal legalization on the horizon and the spread of well founded education, we hope the cannabis community can begin to undo and unlearn and that reparations will be made.