CANNABIS JUSTICE

I’ve seen first-hand how cannabis can be a powerful tool for healing and community-building. At our Ganja Yoga Teacher Trainings, we have scholarship participants learning how to bring cannabis-enhanced yoga to their under-served communities. We have people finding equilibrium and health again after using the plant. We’ve seen so much good come from cannabis.

And, We’ve Seen How Cannabis Can Cause Harm, If The Injustices And Inequalities That Are Embedded Into Its Fabric Aren’t Addressed. 

As you may already know, Black and Brown people in the US  have been disproportionately targeted and incarcerated for treating themselves with the very same green medicine that we yogis use to alleviate our pain, relax, and take us further into our stretches on the daily.

Totally Not Fair.

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the ways cannabis has been used as a tool of oppression, and how we can all work to ensure more equity in the cannabis space, - this 420 and beyond! 

Cannabis has a long history of being used for social justice. In the early 20th century, cannabis was used by Black Americans and other marginalized communities as a way to cope with the oppression and discrimination that they faced. The plant was also used as a tool for resistance, in protests and demonstrations. It was there when our brothers and sisters fought for their rights over the decades. 

Fast-forward to the present day: The cannabis industry is still in its early stages, and there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed. One of the biggest issues is the lack of diversity in the industry. The billion-dollar market is still largely controlled by white men, and there is a need for more diversity in ownership, leadership, and employment, - more money coming into the communities that have been targeted by the failed war on drugs.

This means providing grants so people of color and other minorities can get an equal opportunity to create wealth for their families in this budding new industry. It means voting for politicians, signing petitions, and becoming educated about the importance of this issue. 

Ganja Yogis Believe That Cannabis Is A Powerful Tool For Social Justice, And That It Can Be Used To Heal And Uplift Marginalized Communities.

For those of us not from those communities, - those of us who have more privilege and power in our intersectional identities, - we invite you to see if you can find a Black-owned (or BIPOC-owned) cannabis brand or dispensary in your area and support them.

Follow BIPOC-owned cannabis brands on social media, write them a review on Yelp, drive a little further to shop in their stores, and vote for the world you want, with the swipes of your credit card.

As we celebrate 420 this year, we also invite you to educate yourself about the racist history of cannabis, something this blog entry has only started to unpack. There is much more to learn about with regards to the harms that have been done, and it’s important that we feel the injustice in our bones, and then let the feelings we have be a motivator for change.

As They Say In Trauma-Recovery, You Have To Feel It To Heal It, And We Believe The Same Is True For Systemic Racism. 

Besides creating change by where we shop, we can acknowledge the privilege we have every time we imbibe: What a privilege to do this, when others have had their lives ruined for the very same thing.

With privilege comes power, the power to create a more just and equitable world. Something we all want, no matter where we live or the color of our skin. 

While these small actions do not take away the centuries of harm that people of color have endured because of their cannabis use, they can be a part of our 420 celebrations and our ongoing efforts toward social justice.

Okay, that’s all for now, have an amazing 420, but before you do, please drop us a line! 

APPRECIATE YOU!
XO D.