Marijuana is racist.

I said it.  I meant it.  

I mean, obviously the plants themselves can’t be racist.  Smoking weed isn’t an oppressive act.  So what’s racist about marijuana?

The word.

The word marijuana has roots tangled deep in America’s history of xenophobia, fear-mongering, and systemic racism. It wasn’t always the go-to term. In fact, before the 1900s, most Americans called the plant cannabis, especially in medical and pharmaceutical contexts. You know, the Latin name—the science-y one. The one that sounds like healing.

But in the early 20th century, as Mexican immigrants fled the Mexican Revolution and arrived in the U.S., many brought with them a culture of cannabis use for relaxation and medicine. Instead of embracing that, U.S. lawmakers used it as political fuel. They deliberately swapped out the word cannabis with marijuana—a word with Spanish roots—to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment and link the plant to “dangerous foreigners.”

Enter Harry Anslinger, America’s first drug czar and a man whose name should probably be shouted into the void and never spoken again. He weaponized the term marijuana during his crusade to criminalize cannabis. His strategy was pure propaganda: racist, sensational headlines, fear-based rhetoric, and pseudoscience that claimed cannabis turned people into violent criminals—especially if they were Black or Brown.

He wasn’t trying to protect people. He was trying to control them.

And it worked. The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 passed, ushering in nearly a century of prohibition, incarceration, and disproportionate policing of BIPOC communities. All rooted in a lie. All backed by a word designed to sound “foreign” and scary.

Let’s be real—when we use the term marijuana today without context, we’re echoing that lie. Most folks don’t even realize it, because it’s been normalized. It’s plastered on dispensary signs, packaging, and even legalization bills. But words matter. Language shapes perception. And this one was crafted to criminalize culture.

Now, am I saying you’re a bad person if you’ve used the word? Nah. We’ve all been swimming in the same murky waters. But I am saying we can do better. We can reclaim our relationship with this sacred plant—by calling it what it truly is: cannabis.

Cannabis is not the problem—racist policy is.

So next time you’re talking about your favorite strain, or writing a product description, or teaching someone about the plant, choose your words with intention. Ditch the outdated, propaganda-laced language and speak from a place of truth.

This plant deserves better. And so do the people who’ve been harmed in its name.

Say it with me: Cannabis. Weed.  Za.  Tree.  Flower.  Not marijuana. Let's grow forward.