Every year since 1972, the University of Michigan Diag has held Hash Bash, yet weed legalization in Michigan only came recently. In November of 2018, Michiganders finally voted to legalize recreational marijuana statewide and now there is even a push for nationwide legalization. Legalizing recreational use of marijuana was undoubtedly a huge win for the many activists and communities who pushed so hard for this new law, but is legalization alone enough?
Since the 1950s, communities of Color have been terrorized by the “War on Drugs,” a term coined by then President Richard Nixon. The War on Drugs is a complex issue that is difficult to sum up in a few sentences; even today, people feel its negative effects. However, no one more clearly laid out its corrupt motives than Nixon’s assistant to domestic affairs, John Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman said they intentionally associated Black people with drugs in order to disrupt their communities.
“We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.” Ehrlichman said. “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, history professor Matthew Lassiter expressed his beliefs about the impacts of the War on Drugs.
“The War on Drugs is racially and economically discriminatory at its core,” Lassiter said. “Criminalization, law enforcement and interdiction approaches also just make the illicit and illegal markets more lucrative, violent and dangerous.”
From 1970 to 2000, the U.S. incarceration rate grew by 400% and two-thirds of the increase in federal inmates from 1985 to 2000 was in drug offense convicts. When we better understand how the War on Drugs targeted specific groups, it’s easier to see why modern drug legislation issues are so important.
The true tragedy of the War on Drugs begins when people leave prison. Spending even a few years in prison can ruin the entire income trajectory of someone’s life. The War on Drugs is used to target and incarcerate people of Color in order to subject them to second-class citizenship, giving them fewer rights upon their release. In the case of the War on Drugs, having a criminal record, even for possession of marijuana, makes old forms of discrimination legal again. A criminal record can lead to denial of the right to vote, public benefits, educational opportunities and employment and housing discrimination.
While this is only a brief overview of the history of the War on Drugs, its corrupt motives and lasting effects make weed legalization alone not adequate in reversing decades of systemic racism. A strong step toward compensating for the immense racial disparities caused by the War on Drugs would be immediately expunging the records of those with marijuana possession charges.
In comparison to other states, Michigan has made some truly meaningful strides. In 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Clean Slate Law, which will automatically expunge criminal records after seven to ten years of being crime-free, depending on the crime. While this is a step in the right direction, it is still not adequate. Forcing people to wait years to have a clean record while others get to build wealth by selling marijuana is unjust. Lassiter said there is still a lot of work to be done beyond the Clean Slate Law.
“It’s a start but not nearly enough,” Lassiter said. “Clean Slate should apply to a much broader range of convictions/criminal records and should be available immediately after release.”
At the end of the day, expungement and liberation for drug convictions is a race-based issue, made so by the War on Drugs. Historically, arrests and convictions for drug-related charges have disproportionately affected people of Color and the aftermath of this unfair treatment is devastating. In Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow,”, she explains how drug criminalization was weaponized specifically against Black men.
“It didn’t matter that studies consistently found that whites were equally likely, if not more likely, than people of color to use and sell illegal drugs,” Alexander writes. “Black men were still labeled the enemy.”
This vilification of Black men created lifelong detrimental effects and destructive stereotypes for entire communities of people.
It is inhumane to allow people to endure hardship over marijuana offenses that would be legal if committed today. Beyond expunging drug-related crimes being the humane thing to do, allowing people more opportunities is simply good for the economy. When Whitmer signed the Clean Slate Law she said that it would be a “game-changer.”
“When we help people get a good job so they can put a roof over their head, it is good for our state,” Whitmer said, “It is good for our families, our small businesses and our economy as a whole.”
She’s right. The Center for Economic and Policy Research suggests that criminal records as a barrier to employment create a loss of about $78 to $87 billion in annual GDP for the United States. Not only is expunging these records the right thing to do, but it’s also economically beneficial. So why are we waiting seven years?
It’s devastating to see the way the government has failed its own citizens over time, but when presented with the opportunity to do what’s right, there should be no hesitation. It’s time to bring this corrupt and nefarious War on Drugs to an end once and for all by immediately expunging all marijuana possession convictions. Many students at the University legally use marijuana and while there is nothing wrong with using this legal substance, I implore you to reflect on the many people who were not afforded this same opportunity and whose entire lives were changed because of it.
Mackenzie Kilano is an opinion columnist who writes about student life, culture, and politics. She can be reached at mkilano@umich.edu.