I wish weed was illegal here in Germany so I could open my windows and air the place out. Especially fun when it's hot out during the day and it's not possible to let in the cooler air at night because the twat downstairs lights up at 5 am.
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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Explain Like I'm Five
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Because drugs are a convenient pretext to harass minorities,
“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? 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, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
-- John Ehrlichman, White House Counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under Richard Nixon
and heavy-handed anti-drug legislation remains a useful pretext to the government to this day for largely the same reason, as well as driving modern slavery (gotta keep those numbers up in for-profit prisons).
I agree with everything, except "for-profit prisons" is incomplete. Only something like 10% of prisoners are held in for-profit prisons. The modern prisoner slavery problem is endemic to the entire system, not just the private prison industry.
For-profit prisons are abhorrent. 10% is too much.
But yeah, even the public prisons are slave labor camps. That's gotta stop.
Yes, and 'public prisons' still line pockets
ding ding ding, this answer. Who the fuck thinks that because only 10% of prisoners are in explicitly for-profit prisons, that only those 10% of prisons turn a profit from people being incarcerated for bullshit reasons? They're all for profit. Who profits differs a bit from here to there, but (iirc) it's usually whoever runs the commissary. You've got a quite very literally captive market, and it keeps the poors poor to charge whatever insane prices they like for basic necessities while paying them peanuts for labor they provide while inside (or their family fronts the cost, which is also arguably one of their desired knock-on effects). I just choose to say "for-profit" because, in some countries, prisons are focused on minimizing recidivism and promoting rehabilitation, not propping up a business model.
The racism part mentioned by the others is certainly a large portion
However there's also lobbying from both Tobacco and Alcohol groups against weed. There's a fear that since weed is less addictive than both that people will use it as an alternative and that means less money from addicts. So they help push anti-weed rhetoric to keep it illegal and they have a lot of money to do so
Don't forget the pharmaceutical industry!
In short, racism.
Marijuana was largely banned because it was associated with Mexican immigrants and African Americans. It was claimed the drug led to violence, insanity, and race mixing.
Even today, black people are about four times as likely as white people to be arrested on marijuana-related charges even though they use the drug at similar rates to white people.
Racism might be a contributing factor but I don't think that's the sole/main reason it's illegal. Weed is illegal in almost every single country in the world. I bet that big cotton has more to do with it.
There are quotes from the Nixon admin stating it was to disenfranchise and paint as criminals leftists and black people, and they negotiated similar restrictions in trade deals impacting global drug trade & laws.
Racism was a major part of it, but the broader picture includes neoconservatives oppressing a growing neoliberal and progressive left majority through the 60s and growing a bigger for-profit prison system that requires slaves to maintain profit margins.
There is no limit to the lengths small-souled men will go to for the opportunity to look down on their betters
Big cotton and big pharma have a lot to do with it. Originally in the US though it was pretty much pure racism.
Private prison industry, racism, and religious people
There’s billions of dollars spent on the “war on drugs” and cannabis is an easy target. Plus, there’s decades of messaging about the evils of cannabis that makes a lot of people nervous about it.
Because it would unburden institutions, let private retailers grow it saving the tax payer money, and people would no longer shell out for insurance. No body wants to help you, are you stupid?