Now, as legalization and decriminalization of marijuana spread, some wrestle with the word because of its racially charged etymology.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, among other provisions, would replace statutory references to “marijuana” and “marihuana” with “cannabis.”
A few states have already presented legislation to strike the word “marijuana” from local laws. Last month, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill that erases “marijuana” from state statute to use “cannabis” instead. Virginia and Maine have proposed similar bills.
Lawmakers seek to redress the disproportionate impact anti-drug policies have had on people of color, particularly Black and Latino communities. Racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests, for example, persist even in states that have legalized or decriminalized it, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. [Read More @ USA Today]
