The ethics of marijuana in the age of legalization

"Police do patrol more in neighborhoods of color, and they also get more calls to respond in neighborhoods of color," he says. And when police show up and find kids illegally in possession of marijuana, they're obligated to do something about it.

Humphreys theorizes that the marijuana businesses themselves may be playing a role in who gets arrested.

"The emerging legal marijuana industry is overwhelmingly white-owned and white-dominated, and provides good access to white customers," he says. "So one possibility is that that leaves the illegal market disproportionately composed of people of color, both the buyers and the sellers."

Last month, drug journalist Ioan Grillo's New York Times op-ed about free trade in the cannabis industry painted a dire picture. He said despite the shift toward legalization, black market weed still comes from Mexico. "The profits pay the cartels' assassins, as well as corrupt police officers and soldiers, who discard piles of bodies across Mexico," Grillo wrote. I asked him how much violence could be traced to marijuana and he told me, "[Cartel] violence can't really be separated out by drugs—if that makes sense."

It does, but according to Stephen Mumme, professor of political science at Colorado State University, specializing in US-Mexican relations, in addition to violence, there's also the treatment of growers to consider. Mexican marijuana often comes from "scrappy little valleys that are hard to get to, tucked away where very poor campesinos work for not much remuneration from the industry," he told VICE.

Violence against the farmers is underreported, Mumme explained, but that they're doing business with narcos, and "the narcos have a pretty heavy hand." Fortunately, legal marijuana north of the border has been driving down profits, along with weed production and smuggling in Mexico. But as long as desperate, rural farmers are a cheap source of weed, "there will always be some production," Mumme said.

And that's where some nasty exploitation in the weed biz rears its head. "We see the use of Mexican nationals and other foreign-born folks like the Hmong people," said Silvaggio of the workforce in Humboldt County, California, where much of America's weed comes from. Immigrant laborers make up a large portion of the workers known as "trimmigrants," and to hear Silvaggio tell it, they take on the shittiest workload.

An anecdote from Silvaggio about foreign trimmigants—who are paid by volume of output—is telling, if not especially shocking:

"The Hmong work faster and cheaper than everyone else. They're given the crappiest weed to trim. For example, if you have a thousand pounds for your white workers to trim, and half of it has mildew and small buds, you'll get a bunch of workers quitting and complaining immediately. The Hmong, however, are gonna work through that. And they'll work through it for $50 a pound. That's their job. The white workers will head out onto the street and find another gig."

According to Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, working your fingers to the bone isn't the only hazard of weed work. "Batch after batch after batch is getting rejected for unapproved pesticides," Tree said, referring to Colorado marijuana that's newly being subjected to consumer safety tests. It turns out your hippie uncle with the pot farm may have been exaggerating about how green his buds were. "For all these years, all these organic growers have been lying about labelling," Tree said.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Sounds like the more legalization the less Mexico weed the less violence etc around the border. Anything towards ending the drug war is a positive.

GRR Spartan wrote:Will the new AG take a state's rights stance on legalization or continue the catch 22 where you're legal until the feds say you are not.

GRR Spartan wrote:Will the new AG take a state's rights stance on legalization or continue the catch 22 where you're legal until the feds say you are not.

Herbie Green wrote:Mexi ditch weed can't compete so now it is all about heroin

Herbie Green wrote:Serious question - what is the actual risk of getting my card in Michigan? I am talking about real life and lists and employers and such

Cameron wrote:The penalty for a kid getting caught with weed should be less than the penalty for getting caught with cigarettes.

xsanguine wrote:

Cameron wrote:The penalty for a kid getting caught with weed should be less than the penalty for getting caught with cigarettes.

I'm not sure I agree or disagree but what's yer logic behind this, Cameron?

AnomanderRake wrote:Turn it into a small civil infraction for minors. Make them do community service or something I don't care just don't send them to jail or pay exorbitant fines.

xsanguine wrote:

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Sounds like the more legalization the less Mexico weed the less violence etc around the border. Anything towards ending the drug war is a positive.

That's true but it's only legal for adults. For minors that live in high crime areas (usually black neighorhoods) nothing has changed and they're still getting a record for possessing a plant. So you have black kids doing exactly the same thing as their white/Hispanic/Asian/etc counterparts but because the black kids are unlucky enough to live in rough neighborhoods getting punished for it. That's going to affect their perspective into adulthood.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Will return to this thread but indica is more of a body high and sativa is in your head. I've been leaning more towards indica lately.  Sativa can make me over analyze and over think everything.

The_Dude wrote:My question is, how are they getting caught?  Are they just openly walking around the streets smoking pot?  Sounds like thats the case.  Not very smart to be openly breaking drug laws in public.

Cameron wrote:

The_Dude wrote:My question is, how are they getting caught?  Are they just openly walking around the streets smoking pot?  Sounds like thats the case.  Not very smart to be openly breaking drug laws in public.

Based on?

The_Dude wrote:

Cameron wrote:
Based on?

How else are they getting caught?

Cops are kicking in doors randomly?

The_Dude wrote:

Cameron wrote:
Based on?

How else are they getting caught?

Cops are kicking in doors randomly?