Friend,

Last week marked the beginning of Black History Month. Showing their true colors, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chose to mark the occasion by celebrating President Nixon’s drug war legacy. 

It’s no secret that the initial criminalization of marijuana at the federal level in 1937 was driven by racism. Harry Anslinger, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (predecessor to today’s DEA), who championed federal marijuana criminalization, believed that "reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men."

Nixon’s Administration wasn’t the only one to intentionally target the Black community by ramping up the drug war. The effects of President Clinton’s 1994 crime bill, which established mandatory minimums for marijuana violations and fueled our crisis of over-incarceration, are still felt today. 

Research shows white and Black communities use marijuana at similar rates. However, Black people are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. Marijuana convictions keep people from accessing food benefits, housing, jobs, and education. This Black History Month, let’s be clear: our country’s criminalization of marijuana has always been racist. It’s time we end it. 

Learn more and take action to support marijuana descheduling & decriminalization.

President Biden, a chief architect of Clinton’s 1994 crime bill, has made progress in acknowledging his personal contributions to the war on drugs and the failures of marijuana criminalization. But personal acknowledgement is different from systemic change. Any day now, Biden’s DEA is expected to make an announcement on marijuana scheduling. But rescheduling marijuana doesn’t end the failed policy of cannabis criminalization. It’s time for Biden to make good on his promises to Black communities and for the federal government to acknowledge, end, and repair the racialized harms of marijuana criminalization.

The U.S. has made significant progress toward reducing the harms of state marijuana policies. Nearly half of all states have passed laws to legalize adult use, and many others have effectively decriminalized marijuana. However, because marijuana is a federally scheduled drug on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), it remains federally illegal. And while President Biden’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is considering shifting marijuana from Schedule I – the most restrictive – to Schedule III – a less restrictive schedule, as long as marijuana remains on the CSA, the harms of federal criminalization will continue. 

If Biden’s DEA makes an announcement on marijuana scheduling during Black History Month, it won’t be a coincidence. Federal agencies will try to sell rescheduling marijuana as a victory for Black communities, as a form of racial justice. But regardless of when this announcement is made and how it is characterized, we know better.



The rescheduling process fails to address or even consider the racist origins of marijuana criminalization and related harms and disparities. 

Rescheduling marijuana: 

• Will not restore access to food, housing, employment, or education for those who have been denied it because of a marijuana record. 
• It won’t release people in prison for marijuana. 
• It won’t clear people’s records who have been targeted by racially-discriminatory enforcement; and
• It won’t reinvest the profits made from legal marijuana sales back into the communities of color who have been harmed by the war on drugs. 

To truly address our country’s shameful history of racist marijuana laws and enforcement, we must federally deschedule marijuana and legalize it the right way.



For too long, our elected leaders have tried to sell our communities symbolism and incrementalism as a substitute for systematic change. This Black History Month, we’re demanding true justice, not half-measures towards reform. 

We deserve marijuana laws rooted in health, equity, and racial justice. We deserve marijuana laws that right the wrongs of the past and return power back to the people it's been unjustly stripped from. To achieve that, we need marijuana to be descheduled – not rescheduled – by removing it from the CSA. But we can’t stop there. We also need Congress to pass marijuana legislation that restores rights, expunges records, reinvests in communities, and prioritizes public health.

As a decision on marijuana scheduling approaches, marijuana will be all over the news. Those who stand to profit from rescheduling will certainly make their voices heard. Some will also champion this as a win for Black communities. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we raise our voices and remain committed to descheduling and legalizing marijuana the right way. 

Sign up here to show your support and stay engaged throughout the federal rescheduling process. We need your voice to push for the kind of marijuana reform our communities are owed.