Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for cannabis.

With billions and reparations on the line in an era of cannabis legalization, it’s only right that we free those who’ve been locked up for its unjust prohibition.

Cannabis legalization has swept the nation: with more than 17 states legalizing cannabis for adult use, one in three Americans living in a state where adult-use cannabis is legal, and more than 69% of Americans favoring legalization, according to an April 15 Quinnipiac University poll.

And now, cannabis sales in just 2021 alone are estimated to near $31 billion. In states like Colorado, where cannabis has been legal since 2012, cannabis taxes and fee revenues collected are reaching more than $1 billion.

Yet people are still getting arrested for weed, especially in Pennsylvania. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 20,000 Pennsylvanians have been arrested for cannabis possession, according to NORML.

If you’re Black and in Pennsylvania, you’re more than three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than a white person, even though cannabis use is the same rate. In Philadelphia, Black people still get arrested at high rates for cannabis despite decriminalization in 2014.

These injustices persist despite decriminalization and medical marijuana legalization, underlining the dire need for adult-use legalization to protect public safety and promote use free of harm or persecution, whether building a cannabis business or growing a personal amount at home.

It’s time for all of us in this state to acknowledge the racist history of prohibition and the damage cannabis-linked incarceration has on Black and brown communities and communities suffering from lack of access to this medicine and industry.

There’s no more debate on the question of if cannabis legalization will happen in Pennsylvania. It’s all down to when it will happen, and who will decide what legalization looks like.

We know one thing’s for certain: we need to free our weed people out and put them first. That will be one major way we can truly address the generational harms of the cannabis prohibition, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration.

Sign our petition! Free my weedman!