The Weeds’ weed episode
Explain It to Me
00:00
The War on Drugs
In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was enacted. Failure to comply meant a fine of up to $2,000 and five years in jail. The first marijuana arrest under that law was just like a low level weed dealer in Denver, Colorado. An aide to Nixon admitted that the war on drugs was sort of manufactured in order to target black people and hippies. Hehrlichman: We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin and then criminalizing both heavily.
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