US states look torepair injustices against cannabis users

aLOS ANGELES: Virgil Grant is riding the high on California´s cannabis legalization, with a burgeoning empire that already comprises three dispensaries, two plantations and a line of apparel.

His success has come as some compensation for the six years lost inside the federal prison system for dealing a drug which was outlawed for non-medical use before January 1.

In his discreet boutique in South Los Angeles, he proudly shows off his latest wares — a reusable tea flask infused with CBD, a non-psychoactive element of cannabis — and ointments sold in pretty jars.

Grant found himself on the wrong side of the United States´s decades-long “war on drugs” before the start of the massive groundswell for cannabis legalization, locked up after being arrested by federal agents in 2008.

“You have a lot of people of color that were arrested and sent to prison and jail, (such) as myself, for marijuana crimes, non-violent drug offenses,” he told AFP.

“We´re moving forward and we´re talking about legalization... there are still people sitting in prison for marijuana crimes, but we´re out here selling marijuana legally. You know, that doesn´t make sense.”Cannabis has been legalized in about 30 US states in one form or another, although it remains outlawed at the federal level.

Although recent figures are difficult to ascertain, there were more than 11,000 people in federal prisons for cannabis offences in 2012, according to a study by the Urban Institute think tank. “These people should be freed immediately and their records should be expunged. This is not happening fast enough,” said Grant, co-founder of the California Minority Alliance (CMA), which advocates for minority rights within the weed-growing industry.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 8.2 million people were arrested for dealing or using cannabis between 2001 and 2010 — four black people for every one white, despite similar consumption levels and dealing activity.

Cat Packer, head of LA´s department of cannabis regulation, says disproportionate arrests of non-whites have occurred only because police were “more active in those communities.”

But the impact on African-Americans and Hispanics has been devastating, plunging entire families into penury.

“You lose everything. They take your cars, your money,” recalls Grant, who laments missing out on his five daughters growing up.