Putting Together the Pieces: Cannabis and Mental Health in the Black Community

For more than 20 years, cannabis, in some form, has been legal in Colorado. From its medicinal legalization in 2000 to its recreational legalization in 2012, the plant has generated billions in revenue for the state. 

Not only has the marijuana industry become a viable business, it has helped individuals alleviate anxiety, depression and insomnia, according to researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina. 

Ru Johnson, a cannabis and music industry communication professional, moved to Denver in 2014, shortly after the recreational legalization in Colorado. Since then, she’s seen the marijuana industry undergo a lot of changes.

“When cannabis legalization hit Denver, the most important change was the economy,” Johnson says. “With the social change, especially in 2020, what we’ve seen is many businesses, cannabis and otherwise, have realigned their value systems to those of the consumers… We’re not just using these empty terms like decreasing the effects of the war on drugs. We’re saying here’s how you need to decrease the effects of the war on drugs. Here’s how social equity is just a better built cell block.” 

Dr. Tara Jae, founder and executive director of YouthSeen, an organization that focuses on Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPOC) mental health and wellness, says these products can help address minority health disparities.

“Communities of color have often been penalized and jailed for our consumption of these products as it has been medicine,” they say. 

While self-medicating isn’t a permanent or systemic solution, many cannot afford to access adequate mental health care services. 

“Receiving mental health support is expensive, and oftentimes, there are more barriers put up by insurance companies,” Jae says. “Insurance companies will tell you the network and then there are very few affirming therapists and/or affirming therapists of color that are paneled.”

That, they say, creates a different barrier. Though clinicians are trained similarly, Jae says, it requires a special skill set to work with LGBTQIA people, let alone QTBIPOC.

Regardless of the challenges, Jae says they stand by the potential benefits of marijuana and cannabidiol (CBD) to these marginalized communities.

“I believe they can help, and they do,” Jae says. 

Dr. Rachel Knox, whose family practice works to advance education in cannabinoid medicine, spoke about its benefits at a TedX talk in 2019. She lectured about an emerging field of study, the endocannabinoid system (ECS). According to Knox, the endocannabinoid system is like a switchboard, acting and reacting to internal stimuli. 

“Like your noisy neighbor, these processes need to be checked,” Knox says. “It’s through this mechanism that the endocannabinoid system checks these processes back into balance so your body can relax, remember to eat, fall asleep, forget traumatic experiences, and protect itself along with a host of mediating and restorative processes.” 

The ECS was discovered in the late 1980s, Knox says, through tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a plant-made cannabinoid found in marijuana, also known as the compound responsible for the  euphoric “high” feeling. 

“THC locked into and unveiled this extensive receptor network concentrated throughout the brain and the rest of the body. THC did this, as they found out, because it’s a direct analog or mimicker of our own endocannabinoid anandamine,” Knox says.

In 2017, Susan Stoner, a research associate professor at the Addictions, Drugs and Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington School of Medicine,  reported that the endocannabinoid system is “expressed in all brain regions that are important for the processing of anxiety, fear, and stress and has been identified as playing an important role in these responses.”

In her report, Stoner found that THC appears to decrease anxiety at lower doses and increase anxiety at higher doses, while CBD appears to decrease anxiety at all doses tested. 

Marijuana was first regulated in the United States in 1937 and later outlawed in 1970 under the Controlled Substances Act, the beginning of President Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs.” This, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, has led to mass incarceration. And although white and Black people use marijuana at roughly equal rates, Black people are almost four times likely to be arrested for possession, reports the ACLU.

Even as 38 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of cannabis, with 20 of them allowing for recreational use, it still remains federally illegal. 

However, there is a bipartisan effort in the House of Representatives to help prepare the federal government for what lawmakers call the “inevitable end to cannabis prohibition.” This would help lawmakers establish a safe and effective federal regulatory system.

The Biden administration has taken significant steps to alleviate the pain caused by the “war on drugs.” In October, President Joe Biden announced a pardon of all federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana. He urged Governors to follow suit. 

“Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either,” President Biden says in a statement. 

For state’s where it’s recreationally legal, the next step is to create equity, allowing for those most affected by the “war on drugs” to benefit fromthe marijuana industry. 

In June 2020, Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses reported that 75% of marijuana business owners were white, while only 6% were Black. Since then, the city has’s increased social equity applications, hoping to increase the number of minority-owned businesses.

Johnson says she doesn’t only want to see more Black-owned dispensaries. She wants to see more opportunities for ancillary businesses owned by minoritized populations.

“I want to show businesses that diversity is good business,” Johnson says. “That’s the message that we, as consumers, want to get behind. That to me is more important.”

Cannabis has had a profound impact on Johnson’s life. She says she’s used it to alleviate nausea and elevate her mind, body and spirit. 

“Many utilize cannabis to heighten their mental health and wellness. We’ve seen that in the veteran community across the country… With that comes an education and commitment to that wellness of that community,” she says. “We’re not just handing it out.”

Johnson hopes that one day, she’ll see an FDA stamp on her weed, a sign of progress and legitimization. 

“I want to see people tend to themselves in ways that makes the most sense and have access to all the things that make them better,” Johnson says.