Pot for Profit : Cannabis Legalization, Racial Capitalism, and the Expansion of the Carceral State / Joseph Mello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mello, Joseph, author.

Series:

Cultural lives of law.

The Cultural Lives of Law Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marijuana--Law and legislation--United States.

Marijuana.

Marijuana industry--Law and legislation--United States.

Marijuana industry.

Drug legalization--United States.

Drug legalization.

Imprisonment--United States.

Imprisonment.

Race discrimination--Law and legislation--United States.

Race discrimination.

Racism--United States.

Racism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (210 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"The United States has experienced a dramatic shift in attitudes towards marijuana use from the 1970s, when only 12% of Americans said that they thought that marijuana should be legal, to today. What once had been a counterculture drug supplied for the black market by socially marginal figures like drug smugglers and hippies has become a big business, dominated by a few large corporations. Pot for Profit, traces the cultural, historical, political, and legal roots of these changing attitudes towards marijuana. The book will also showcase interviews with dispensary owners, bud tenders, and other industry employees about their experience working in the legal marijuana industry, and marijuana reform activists working towards legalization. Mello argues that embracing the profit potential of this drug has been key to the success of marijuana reform, and that this approach has problematic economic and racial implications. The story of marijuana reform shows that neoliberalism may not be an absolute barrier to social change, but it does determine the terrain on which these debates must occur. When activists capitulate to these pressures, they may make some gains, but those gains come with strings attached. This only serves to reinforce the totalizing power of the neoliberal ethos on American life. The book concludes by meditating on what, if anything, can be done to move the cannabis legalization movement back onto a more progressive track"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : the cultural roots of cannabis reform

Dispatches from the cannabis closet : cannabis prohibition, legal culture, and legal consciousness

From tie dye to suit and tie : the corporatization of cannabis

Creating docile bodies : legal cannabis and the carceral state

Sustaining a movement : mobilizing for cannabis reform after legalization

Conclusion : cannabis and the American racial imagination.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781503639225

1503639223

OCLC:

1432590606