By: Wesley S. Spears, Esq.
Marijuana has been a part of American culture for over a hundred years. It was first vilified in the 1920’s Movie Reefer Madness. Much in the same way as Prohibition was to alcohol Marijuana laws have been to the safe use of Marijuana. Marijuana laws have been carefully crafted, over the years to provided multiple safety valves to protect white people and those minorities who could afford an attorney from having a record from their use or sale of Marijuana. At the same time, the laws relentlessly punished the small-time minority marijuana seller, who were designated dealers. The word drug dealer has extremely negative connotations. Countless minorities lives have been ruined by a marijuana sales conviction and the label drug dealer. Now the state is going to License the sale of Marijuana.
Ask yourself, If the old laws were fair why are they being changed. Plain and simple money. The Big Money Grab is going to further hurt minorities. If members of the legislature want to eliminate Minorities from profiting from the new marijuana industry how would they do it. They would pass a law that prices the license so high that most if not all minorities from getting a license. The proposed price for a Marijuana sales license in Connecticut is $250,000. One of the two companies with grow licenses for marijuana just purchased a building for eight million dollars which is the size of several football fields to grow and sell legal marijuana. That company includes former politicians and even a former DEA agent.
The issue of licenses in Connecticut is purely political and controlled by the Majority Community. Let’s face it most of the legislature could care less about minorities. As long as minorities are divided against each other, the old play book of the majority will still be in use. The only way to avoid this result is for minorities to come together and to pool our money so that we can get a piece of the Marijuana action and not be priced out of the market. Who do you think is going to consume large amounts of the marijuana legally sold and to do the work to grow the marijuana?
But who do you think is going to get all the money the majority, unless minorities wake up before it is to late. Why the rush to prepare to get a license before the law is passed you ask? If the existence of the eight-million-dollar building bought to grow marijuana was not enough, the Mozzicato Bakery family already has zoning in Wethersfield to sell marijuana from property they own in Wethersfield. Did a minority have this kind of opportunity? Absolutely, not because it is all political and the minority presence in the Connecticut legislature is not large enough to change the dynamics.
If Connecticut is going to license the sale of Marijuana, minorities should be given their fair share of the Licenses. Let’s face facts for decades minority marijuana sellers have either supported themselves entirely or subsidized their legal income through the sale of marijuana. Many illegal Marijuana Sellers sell because they have a marijuana and/or other drug convictions and cannot get a decent job. All that money will leave the minority community and go to the majority. The elimination or severe reduction of sales of Marijuana by minorities, will be replaced with violent crime rooted in desperation from the loss of income from the sale of Marijuana.
Minority communities need to wake up smelled the weed! We have been blinded for two long from the obvious schemes in the majority play book!
