Is the word marijuana offensive?
Christine Sclafnai provides a brief explanation of marijuana and how the word was used to stoke anti-Mexican sentiment and to make cannabis sound foreign.There are many people that do not believe the word marijuana should be used anymore do to its racist background, but it is still one of the most commonly used words for cannabis. Do you find the word marijuana offensive? Please comment below and let us know what you think.
You can follow Christine at https://www.instagram.com/culture.tnmews
Transcription:
I have a question and I really hope you will all chime in. It’s about as serious of a question as I will ever ask here on TNMNews cuz asking super serious questions really is not what I do here. I am Christine Sclafnai and I am the culture correspondent for The National Marijuana News.
Let me preface the question with this brief explanation. In the early 1900’s, during the Mexican Revolution, around 1.5 million people of Mexican heritage migrated north to the United States. Many U.S. citizens were very unhappy at the time by what they saw as an intrusion and additional competition for employment. Many of those people worked to make the Mexican immigrants lives very difficult, including Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics at the time.
In the early 1900’s people here in the U.S. called cannabis, cannabis. But he started calling it marijuana and used the word to stoke anti-Mexican sentiment and to make cannabis sound foreign. There are many people that do not believe the word marijuana should be used anymore do to its racist background, but it is still one of the most commonly used words for cannabis.
Heck, we are even called The National Marijuana News. So, this is the question; Do you find the word marijuana offensive, or has it become a word that is now ingrained into our new culture and helps serve to remind people of the long and contentious history the United States has had with cannabis, as awful as it has been at times? Please chime in below or you may have seen a little poll icon popup over my left shoulder that you can tap on to answer too.
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cannabis culture, cannabis history, mj
