Pot Lots Part 3: Righting the Wrongs of the Past

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Hey, young America, we need to talk about something called grass. Not that grass, I'm talking about marijuana.

SPEAKER_2 (0:11)

It's stimulating, mind-expanding, safer to use that alcohol. It's the in-thing, the hula hoop of the jet generation, and as much a part of growing up as smoking corn silk behind the back fence.

Such are the myths concerning marijuana, myths that lull thousands of young people into experimenting with obnoxious weed. The facts are otherwise.

Marijuana is an intoxicating, mind-muddling drug. Every case history tells the same story, a story that's a tragic pattern of men and women's lives. Cause? Marijuana. This harmless-looking cigarette is cloaked in many innocent disguises. But light the match, inhale the smoke, and it becomes an invitation to your own murder. This killer and the man who sells it has no respect for anybody.

Joe Weisenthal (1:10)

That's how the US has largely campaigned against marijuana, from the regular television ads to PSAs, straight from the American Medical Association, and even movies. That last clip you heard is from the 1949 movie She Should Have Said No, also known as Wild Weed. It's one of those movies that's filled with messages about how bad drugs and especially marijuana really are.

Watching morality tales like She Should Have Said No, they're not very subtle in their messaging.

Tracy Alloway (1:39)

No, they're not. A lot of the messaging around weed has been about how bad it is for your health, your youth, your overall life direction, and that has perpetuated the notion that those who deal in the industry are basically criminals and terrible people. And it's kind of crazy to contrast those movies with what's happening now.

So what's it like running a weed truck?

SPEAKER_5 (2:03)

Well, you know, it's pretty fun. You got some free samples from it, that's for sure. We've had a couple of customers come up and they're like, can I smoke this? Like, is this okay to do? And it's like they're not used to it and they think it's still, you know, this forbidden thing. But then we have customers who are like, oh yeah, this is great to see that it's finally starting to open up.

Tracy Alloway (2:22)

That's a budtender, get it?

At a local weed truck in New York, and those have become as ubiquitous on Manhattan streets as hot dog carts or ice cream vendors. And she says attitudes towards pot have changed a lot.

You still have people who can't believe that this is legal, but she says she sees all types of people coming to buy weed nowadays, even parents with their adult children.

Joe Weisenthal (2:48)

Welcome back to Potlots. We've talked about the illicit market in New York and the business of legal weed, and in this episode, we're going to be speaking about one of the things that makes New York unique.

Because not only is the state trying to use legalized weed to raise tax revenue and create a new industry with lots of jobs, it's also trying to use the program to rectify some of the wrongs of the past.

Damien Fagan (3:10)

Two historical policies were particularly damaging to black and brown communities across the state. The first is the Rockefeller drug laws.

And Governor Rockefeller, at the time, you know, there was a big panic across the country about drugs and drug use. And, you know, those drug laws really created these insanely harmful, mandatory minimum sentences for minor possession and the sale of illicit drugs. And the second thing was stop and frisk.

Tracy Alloway (3:34)

That's Damien Fagan. He probably has one of the most interesting government jobs in the world right now. He's chief equity officer at New York's Office of Cannabis Management. So he thinks about this idea of social justice a lot, as well as the legacy of previous drug policies.

Former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller toughened up punishment for drug offenses in the 1970s in response to a crime wave in the city. And stop and frisk, which allowed New York police officers to temporarily detain people and check them for contraband, was practiced for many years, including under Mike Bloomberg's tenure as mayor. Bloomberg is, of course, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.

Damien Fagan (4:13)

And so the combination of the Rockefeller drug laws and stop and frisk led to people spending years in prison for minor cannabis possession.

And predominantly, with the implementation of stop and frisk, we have all the numbers now. 1.2 million individual arrests over 40 years. Almost close to 60% of those arrested were Black in a state that is 15% Black.

Joe Weisenthal (4:35)

This is the kind of injustice that New York's legalized weed program is trying to address.