The Legalization of Cannabis and the Question of Reparations

Abstract

This article surveys the dramatic sea change in the legal status of both the domestic and international cannabis trade over the past decade and asks whether legalization challenges or complements racial capitalism. As the changing status of prohibited drugs not only seeks to correct a historical wrong but also gives rise to a new, highly profitable cross-border commodities market, I analyse whether the variety of policies that are currently being implemented alongside cannabis legalization—from import restrictions to social equity licences—is sufficient to appease the demand for reparations by the communities who suffered the most through the past century of the ‘War on Drugs’. This ‘War on Drugs’ was both historically and structurally weighted towards the reinforcement of racial hierarchies. As it enters into its twilight, I find that an overview of both the international and domestic laws that are being passed in order to introduce a new age of legal, commercial cannabis threatens to lock in the racial inequalities of our global economy, rather than serve as a tool for the advancement of reparative racial justice.