• Cannabis and Youth

  Black Yute & Cannabis Use

  Posted by Rahma on September 23, 2025 at 4:38 pm

  I believe the stigma against Black youth and cannabis is structural and historical.

  Cannabis is a plant. A medicine. A tool. Yet Black youth are still hyper-stigmatized for using it. Why?

  It’s not about the plant itself—it’s about who is using it.
  For other racial/ white , middle-class users, cannabis is normalized, trendy, even medicinal. For Black youth, it becomes a symbol of “deviance,” “risk,” “criminality.” The same plant is neutral—or celebrated—depending on who touches it.

  This isn’t accidental. It’s structural and historical. Anti-Black policing, the War on Drugs, school disciplinary policies—they all coded Black bodies as suspect. Cannabis use became another way to surveil, punish, and criminalize Black youth. Even when science and medicine say otherwise, the stereotype sticks.

  The stigma persists because society doesn’t just fear cannabis—it fears Black autonomy, Black pleasure, Black decision-making. The plant is incidental; the target is the youth. And the caricature? It’s convenient. It lets everyone else feel safe, moral, “normal,” while Black youth carry the consequences.

  We have to ask ourselves: why do we normalize some people’s choices but criminalize others? Why is Black youth autonomy still pathologized, even when it’s just a plant? The answer isn’t in cannabis—it’s in the systems that decide whose humanity counts.

  Rahma replied 4 hours, 1 minute ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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