December 14th, 2017

National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators Calls for Regulating Marijuana 

Quoting the MPP Blog (https://blog.mpp.org), "The resolution delves deeply into the history of marijuana prohibition, recognizing the racist foundations of the earliest marijuana laws being used to discriminate against people of color, through the racial disparity that exists in marijuana enforcement to this day.
The Caucus called on Congress to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, and for state lawmakers to regulate marijuana for adult use and seal previous marijuana-related criminal records."

This resolution explains how much of the prohibition is rooted in Louisiana's dark and disgraceful past:

“Marihuana as a Developer of Criminals” from Eugene Stanley, district attorney of New Orleans, Louisiana, which was suffused with intrinsic bias and xenophobia targeting many groups. Against Hispanics in particular, it included a heading stating that “Marihuana is the Mexican term for Cannabis Indica.” But its bias did not stop there. It also stated that, “in the South, amongst the Negroes, it is termed ‘mooter,’” and later, to underscore the attack on African Americans, it stated that “it is popularly known amongst the criminal element as ‘muggles’, or ‘mooter,’” implicitly linking African Americans with criminal behavior. In fact, both Mr. Stanley’s report and Mr. Ansingler’s main testimony to Congress blamed marijuana for the “numerous acts of cruelty” of the ancient cult of Assassins, with Mr. Anslinger going so far as to state that “it is said the Mohammedan leaders, opposing the Crusaders, utilized the services of individuals addicted to the use of hashish for secret murders,” in a thinly veiled religious attack against Muslims." 

Please find the full resolution at:
nhcsl.org/153/resolution/calling-for-the-decriminalization-commercialization-and-taxation-of-cannabis/