This week’s podcast discusses the relationship between race, gender, and marijuana. In a nation where marijuana has now been legalized in multiple states and is steadily becoming more and more accepted in our society by the day, we must take into account the implications of race and gender in relation to the drug. As Sarah Mirk, the author of “race, gender, and marijuana” claims, African Americans in the U.S. have historically been twice as likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana. This brings up an interesting thought; now that the marijuana industry has become a big legal business, who will be part of this business? Will the people that have been damaged by the system the most severely in the past, such as blacks, hold positions of power in the industry, or will the industry simply be run by wealthy white people? We must consider our country’s history of racism in addressing this question, and the unfortunate truth is that minorities will likely be limited in their ability to climb the corporate ladder to the same extent as whites. In terms of marijuana’s role on gender, at least, it seems that many women who work with the drug professionally are hopeful; marijuana’s rising legality means new business opportunities for them in the sense that the pot shop market is relatively untapped. In a corporate world largely dominated by men, women now have a unique chance to prove themselves and take charge; still, they must be swift in this quest before gendered stereotypes takeover and they are left obsolete. Perhaps the same goes for African Americans and other minority groups.

https://bitchmedia.org/article/popaganda-episode-race-gender-and-marijuana