Fight the Power Series Part 2: We are Stronger Together
During this four-part series, join Marijuana Matters as we discuss using our resources as cannabis consumers and advocates to promote social equity. This is part two. You can find part one here.
We’ve only just begun to see a real shift in American attitudes about cannabis prohibition in the last decade. Go back even just a few years, and the majority consensus on pot was that it should be locked away, just like the people who used it.
Cannabis criminalization has driven the mass incarceration of Black people, but that reality was mostly lost to the general public. The idea of creating pathways for people with cannabis convictions to wealth through the cannabis industry was unusual, but there were advocates like Roz McCarthy, founder and CEO of Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM), having that conversation.
“Starting M4MM was a way to create community,” Roz said about the non-profit’s founding.
“At the time, there were organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League, and they created a community around certain social justice issues. But there wasn’t one entity or organization primarily focused on cannabis as centric to economic opportunities, health equity, and social justice.”
Things have changed a lot since Roz started M4MM. Today, there is a steadily growing number of organizations dedicated to leveraging the legalization of cannabis to undo the damage done by the drug war. The emergence of these organizations sends a clear, strong message from coast-to-coast: it’s time for the communities most harmed by the war on drugs to become the beneficiaries of cannabis legalization. But this message receives pushback, and sometimes that can come from the very advocacy groups that work to deliver it.
The Fight for Equity is Not a Competition
“When I first started M4MM four and a half years ago, I walked in with big rosy eyes,” Roz said. “But to be honest with you, I didn’t get the warm and fuzzy ‘come on, Kumbaya, let’s figure it out together.’ And for me, that was disconcerting. It was deflating. Where was the love, you know?”
There’s a myth lurking near the heart of every altruistic movement, and it’s that there’s not enough love to go around.
“If you’re someone who has built a brand and you see someone else building something similar, I can imagine why you’d want to protect your brand,” Roz said. “But I can’t do this work by myself.”
“I think that four and a half years ago, entities may have thought, ‘man, we can do this heavy lifting by ourselves.’ Now we’re seeing that we can’t.”
The problem we’re facing is enormous. According to the ACLU, Black people are 3.6 times as likely to be arrested for cannabis possession as white people. One of the collateral consequences of this injustice is the underrepresentation of those who have experienced the injuries caused by cannabis prohibition — people who are mostly Black — in the rooms where decisions about the future of cannabis are being made.
That lack of representation leads to another problem: the belief that Black people have to fight each other for that one reserved seat at the table. We’re so used to seeing only one Black person or being the only Black person in a room full of executives, investors, and lawmakers, that some of us have picked up the idea that this is some kind of competition. And if we hold that belief, it’s unreasonable to expect that white allies won’t, too.
Roz tells the story of a time when an “ally” asked her to pick a weapon and walk into the Colosseum herself.
“There was a white publication that I reached out to when I first got started, and I said, ‘Hey, can we get you guys to carry some of our stories?’ And they were like, ‘Well, we’re currently working with MCBA. I recommend that you guys figure out who’s going to rise to the top, and that’s who we’ll start working with as we go along.’”
There is no rule that says a predominantly white-owned publication or corporation is only allowed to work with either Minorities for Medical Marijuana or the Minority Cannabis Business Association. The leaders of like-minded organizations must have the awareness to recognize when they are being pit against one another and the confidence to control their own narratives.
“It takes the little organizations to say, ‘No, we’re not taking this. We’re going to love and support one another, because we can’t lift alone,” Roz said. “And that’s what I think is happening now.”
What Does Solidarity Look Like?
There is not one single entity that can address the unique issues each community harmed by the war on cannabis faces today. The more empowered social equity advocacy groups there are, the more layers of structural inequality can be cleared from the pathways to economic, political, and health equity in the cannabis industry. Here are ways that you can prioritize collaboration over competition:
· Reshare from other groups on social media. One of the simplest ways you can show another non-profit in the social equity space love is to follow them and share their posts. Not only does this allow you to create a friendly relationship on social media, but it serves the very important purposes of (1) showing unity and (2) presenting educational material to a diverse coalition of communities — the followers each group has earned.
· Contribute to multiple organizations. When Roz is introduced to a social equity group that aligns with her values, she writes them a check. You might not have the resources to do that yet, but it’s an aspirational goal. Your financial support allows advocacy groups fighting for social equity to get the job done.
· Communicate with other groups. Share your successes and failures with entities like yours so they can learn from you. Find out what other groups are doing so that you can learn from them. Networking this way might take you out of your comfort zone, but it will also create opportunities for collaboration and growth.
Collaborate With Us
You don’t have to be a cannabis entrepreneur, advocate, lobbyist, policymaker, or even cannabis consumer to find your place in the movement for social equity in the cannabis industry. If you care about our mission, you can work with us by taking two simple (and free) steps:
· Take the the M2 Social Equity First Survey to help us get a better sense of what cannabis consumers and entrepreneurs in underrepresented communities really need.
· If you use cannabis medicinally or recreationally, take the Social Equity Pledge for Consumers. As a consumer, you have the power to sway the direction the industry moves in, so use that influence to support social equity in the cannabis industry.
Marijuana Matters is a non-profit centering those disadvantaged by the criminalization of marijuana. M2 identifies and eliminates barriers to economic opportunity in the regulated cannabis industry through advocacy, entrepreneurship, and education. Support our work.
