please Xi, reclaim the mantle of destiny, cannabis with chinese characteristics could be a potent global force for good

  • Terkrockerfeller [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Taking a few edibles has turned me into the most Stereotypical Stoner Imaginable but I can't for the life of me understand why this shit is illegal anywhere, never mind everywhere. In the US the war on drugs is obviously heavily racialized, but why does nearly every country on earth ban weed?

    • MedicareForSome [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/index.html

      The UN has treaties requiring members to make drugs illegal.

    • Gothouse [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      After WWII, DuPont had nylon, but hemp was a superior fiber. They flexed their muscles, had hemp banned, and presto, a huge market for their new product.

      • Sphere [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        I've never seen any evidence that this is true. My understanding is that the Prohibition enforcement people, at risk of losing their jobs on account of Prohibition ending, moved to criminalize other drugs, ultimately settling on cannabis because basically only Black and Mexican people used it at the time. That made it easy to convince white people to ban it with heavy-handed propaganda like Reefer Madness.

          • Sphere [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            The source is probably going to be that book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer. I am aware of no academic sources which agree with that book, however, and as a cannabis enthusiast myself, I've always been annoyed at the extensive misinformation passed along in the weed community.