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My name is Fred Brathwaite.
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Most of you may know me as Fab 5 Freddy,
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that guy that used to host
that rap show on MTV.
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-♪ Fab 5 Freddy ♪
-♪ Yo, yo, yo ♪
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-[man] The number one show.
-♪ Rap music ♪
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-♪ Fab 5 Freddy ♪
-♪ Yo, yo ♪
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[Brathwaite] I grew up in the Bed-Stuy
section of Brooklyn, New York.
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My godfather was jazz drummer Max Roach
and best friends with my dad.
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Our house was a happening scene.
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Good music playing,
my mom's great food on the stove,
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and my dad's friends
at the house on the regular,
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having spirited intellectual conversation
over quality cannabis.
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Like my dad and his friends,
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I'm a long-time cannabis connoisseur
and an advocate.
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More than half of America agrees with me.
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As cannabis goes mainstream,
it's easy to forget the past:
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nearly 100 years of prohibition
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and millions of lives destroyed
in a war on drugs.
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As this trend of legalization
spreads across the country,
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you have to ask, "Why was cannabis
ever made illegal in the first place?"
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And why is America only now accepting it?
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My journey to answer this question
starts right here,
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in my father's old record collection.
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The history of cannabis in America
has long been tied
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to the history of music in America.
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Almost 100 years ago,
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the biggest advocates of the day
were jazz musicians.
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[man] They used euphemisms.
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Cab Calloway, of course,
was one of the first
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with a song called "The Reefer Man."
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99.9% of the public wouldn't have
no idea what he was talking about.
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[Brathwaite] Reefer, gauge, jive, and weed
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were some of the slang words
jazz greats used
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when singing about cannabis.
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These terms would become some
of the popular slang still in use today.
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[man 2]
Not only were jazz musicians smoking it,
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but everybody knew that it
gave them a leg up.
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When you got high on cannabis,
the music slowed down a little bit.
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And you could flow improvisationally.
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[man 3] The cat that smoked marijuana,
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they had better know that... Fats Wallace
and Duke Ellington and all of them.
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They help you be very creative.
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I've been smoking for 70 years
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and really enjoyed it.
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Way back in the days in the jazz era,
they were speaking on the plant
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because the plant was something that was
a way of helping them find they groove
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and find they mind and find they mental,
to create some of the most classic music
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that was ever written,
that was ever produced,
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that was ever sung, and it's timeless.
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There's something about that cannabis that
brings the best out of whoever you are,
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if you tap into your spirit
or why it's here.
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[man 3] There's a lot of reefer songs
going around. "Light Up."
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[hums melodically]
♪ Light up ♪
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There's another one.
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♪ All the jive is gone ♪
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♪ All the jive is gone ♪
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♪ I had some fun, but now I'm on the run
Because all the jive is gone ♪
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Because back in the day,
they called marijuana jive.
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♪ The latest crave
The country's rave is jive, jive, jive ♪
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[upbeat jazz music plays]
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[Brathwaite] You can trace the roots
of cannabis to the city of New Orleans,
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a port city that was a melting pot
of cultures and the birthplace of jazz.
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That's right, baby, New Orleans.
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At a time when only the hippest cats
knew where to find some good reefer
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in those underground clubs.
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[man] Here's the original reefer song.
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♪ Hide the reefer
Here comes the creeper ♪
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♪ Hide the reefer
Here comes the creeper ♪
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♪ Hide the reefer
Here comes the creeper ♪
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♪ Hide the reefer
Here comes the creeper ♪
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[Brathwaite] Cannabis
and its close cousin hemp
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were used for centuries throughout Asia
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and traveled across the globe
along trade routes.
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[Sloman] Marijuana doesn't actually become
a social problem per se,
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until there's early reports
in El Paso Texas and also in New Orleans
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of minorities smoking marijuana.
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Marijuana,
from its entry point into the US,
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has been associated with two groups
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that give Americans great amounts
of trepidation,
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historically then and even now.
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And that's African-Americans
and jazz culture in New Orleans
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and Mexicans.
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In fact, the name cannabis was shifted
in the mainstream discourse to marijuana,
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in order to make the association
with Mexican-ness.
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We're talking about this happening
in the first three decades
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of the 20th Century,
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which are some of the most
xenophobic decades in American history,
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although we're doing
pretty well with that now.
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But, you know,
really intensely xenophobic moments.
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So you're talking about individuals
coming in through Mexico into Texas,
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the coming of Jews and Italians,
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the great migration of African-Americans
into northern cities.
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So the whole population
of urban America is shifting,
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and there's a ton of anxiety
around this population.
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They were worried
that the blacks in New Orleans
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who were smoking marijuana
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would then use it
to seduce white teenagers
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and get them hooked on this mysterious
drug that they knew nothing about.
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Jazz was the new music
of the 20th century.
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And Louis Armstrong is its progenitor.
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Louis Armstrong is the most important
seminal figure in the development of jazz.
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I was born, you know, in 1900.
In James Alley, they called it.
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It's the back of town.
That's the real New Orleans.
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And as a little boy,
they used to call me little Louis.
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And I grew up there
listening to all the good music.
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[Hager] We know that Louis
started smoking weed early on.
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And he smoked it every day of his life.
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[Sloman] Louis was one
of our glorious, early potheads.
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And obviously, if you listen to his music,
you can see that pot,
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if anything, had
a very salutary effect on his music.
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[Brathwaite] By the 1920s, some states
had begun outlawing marijuana usage,
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including California.
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In 1930, Louis Armstrong was playing
a gig at the Cotton Club in Culver City,
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when he got arrested for smoking a joint
outside during a set break.
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[Sloman] We're in Louis Armstrong's house,
which has been preserved as a museum.
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This whole desk is Louis' tape recorder,
Louis' glasses maybe, I don't know.
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All the tapes.
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[Brathwaite] Most of what we know
about Louis Armstrong,
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we know from his own words and letters.
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He was very open about his cannabis use.
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And he did not mince words
in his opposition to prohibition.
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[Sloman] One of the things Louis
never understood was
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why marijuana was illegal.
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He told his manager,
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"I'm not so particular about having
a permit to carry a gun.
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All I want is a permit
to carry that good shit.
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You must see to it
that I have special permission
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to smoke all the reefers
that I want to when I want,
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or I will just
have to put this horn down."
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He was way ahead of his time because Louis
wanted to get a permit for marijuana.
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"I can't afford to be tense, fearing
that any minute I'm going to be arrested,
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brought to jail, for a silly
little minor thing like marijuana."
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[Brathwaite] Louis' words were sensible,
yet radical for that time.
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And they still ring true today.
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How is it that a mild intoxicant, a plant
that grows naturally all over the world,
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could be so feared
by the American government
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and become worthy of a war?
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Huh. It all comes down to one man.
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His name? Harry Anslinger.
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[man] Our distinguished guest
for this evening is Harry J. Anslinger,
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United States Commissioner of Narcotics,
Treasury Department.
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[Anslinger]
It is the duty of the Treasury Department
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to damn the harmful and malignant stream
of narcotic drugs.
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The Treasury Department intends
to pursue a relentless warfare
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against the despicable,
dope-peddling vulture
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who preys on the weakness
of his fellow man.
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One of the biggest architects
of marijuana prohibition,
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maybe even
the father of marijuana prohibition,
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is Harry Anslinger.
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[Sloman] Harry Anslinger was an associate
in the Prohibition department.
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In 1930, he becomes the first head
of the Bureau of Narcotics.
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What you have to realize
though about Anslinger is that...
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deep in his bones, he was a racist.
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And that informed
a lot of the way he viewed,
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you know, what measures
should be taken against people
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who were basically smoking
a very innocent flower. [chuckles]
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Uh, I might say that, uh, we find
this teenage addiction
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in certain segments
and certain neighborhoods.
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For instance, you can
almost chalk it down this way.
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You see very little of it in New England.
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You come to New York,
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh...
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uh...
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Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans.
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[Brathwaite] Most of America at that time
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would've known exactly
what Anslinger meant right here.
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These cities were known to have high
populations of black and brown people.
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Anslinger was a master at PR
and at fake news.
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So what he was able to do was
always create the other.
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He had been always amassing
these horrid, lurid stories
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of the devastation
that's wrought by marijuana.
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So this is just a small sample
of what I call The Gore File.
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"Hampton Negro Conference."
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"Marijuana created
a magnificent dream scenery and insanity."
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Okay, here's a good one.
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"Kills six in a hospital,
Mexican crazed by marijuana
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runs amok with a butcher knife."
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And this was published
in the New York Times in 1925.
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This is a good one.
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"Mexican family go insane.
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A woman and her four children
have been driven insane
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by eating the marijuana plant,
according to doctors
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who say there is no hope
of saving the children's lives.
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And that the mother will be insane
for the rest of her life."
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At that time, most Americans
knew nothing about marijuana.
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So, um, the idea was,
at least for Anslinger,
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was to build up this consciousness
of this public menace,
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which really, you know,
was not a public menace at all.
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And one of the great cases
is the Victor Licata case.
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And this is a kind of place
where Anslinger would... um...
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This is Inside Detective magazine.
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And this is the Marijuana Maniac.
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One day, Victor Licata takes an ax
and murders his father, mother,
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two brothers and a sister.
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Immediately it gets linked to marijuana.
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Actually, Victor Licata
was a schizophrenic.
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There was no evidence, of course,
that marijuana caused any of this.
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But Anslinger, for years,
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used these stories to promote the idea
that weed just makes you totally insane.
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[Brathwaite]
Under Anslinger's leadership,
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00:14:38,544 --> 00:14:41,422
marijuana propaganda
sprouted up everywhere.
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Millions of Americans would read it,
see it on newsreels in theaters,
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before feature films.
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Marijuana, a Mexican weed
smoked in cigarette form, called reefers.
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A one-way ticket to the nut house.
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Should you ever be confronted with
a temptation of taking that first puff
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00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:02,860
of a marijuana cigarette, don't do it.
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00:15:02,943 --> 00:15:04,653
Don't do it. Don't do it.
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[Brathwaite] And, eventually, there was
a series of films, like Reefer Madness,
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devoted entirely to creating
misinformation and mass hysteria
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around the plant.
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[man] People say cannabis
was causing folks
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to act crazy and behave aggressively.
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00:15:24,423 --> 00:15:30,179
It was causing these young pretty white
girls to be lured away from their homes
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to become prostitutes.
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00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,098
[girls laughing]
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And the federal government
had to do something.
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So, as a result,
in 1937 cannabis was, in effect,
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banned in the United States.
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About this same time,
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Mayor LaGuardia of New York City
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00:15:51,909 --> 00:15:55,871
commissioned a comprehensive report
to be done on cannabis.
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[Sloman] The Marihuana Report
from LaGuardia
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00:16:02,461 --> 00:16:06,006
devastated every tenet
of Anslinger's philosophy
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and said none of this is true.
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There's nothing wrong with smoking pot.
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That doesn't lead to criminality.
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That it doesn't lead to addiction.
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You know, all these bug-a-boos
were completely not true.
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[Brathwaite] In the pages
of the LaGuardia Report,
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you can see that 80 years ago,
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00:16:28,404 --> 00:16:31,865
scientists had confirmed
that cannabis was not at all
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00:16:31,949 --> 00:16:34,451
the evil Anslinger made it out to be.
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[man] Back then,
you didn't have internet.
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You didn't have access to information
235
00:16:38,247 --> 00:16:41,417
the way you do so that you
can unveil the bullshit.
236
00:16:41,500 --> 00:16:44,670
It's sort of like being in school
and them feeding you history.
237
00:16:44,753 --> 00:16:47,506
They're going to feed you the history
that they want to feed you.
238
00:16:47,589 --> 00:16:49,466
They're not going to feed you
the whole history.
239
00:16:49,550 --> 00:16:55,597
Psychiatrists and sociologists,
from 1936 on,
240
00:16:55,681 --> 00:16:58,684
knew that there was
nothing wrong with this weed
241
00:16:58,767 --> 00:17:01,562
and that it's much worse
if you're drinking alcohol
242
00:17:01,645 --> 00:17:03,188
than if you're smoking a little reefer.
243
00:17:03,272 --> 00:17:08,277
Our decision-makers chose
at every juncture to ignore the science.
244
00:17:08,819 --> 00:17:10,070
To ignore the research.
245
00:17:10,154 --> 00:17:15,325
At every moment
when government officials could lead,
246
00:17:15,409 --> 00:17:19,997
could actually use science,
they chose propaganda.
247
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:21,040
They chose racism.
248
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,127
[Brathwaite]
LaGuardia's report also uncovered
249
00:17:25,210 --> 00:17:28,172
that after the Marijuana Tax Act
was passed,
250
00:17:28,255 --> 00:17:34,219
people of color made up 78% of all
marijuana arrests in New York City alone.
251
00:17:35,804 --> 00:17:39,349
This racial disparity
would continue till today.
252
00:17:40,184 --> 00:17:41,769
[Hager] Anslinger knew that his job
253
00:17:41,852 --> 00:17:45,481
wasn't really about trying
to prevent people from getting high.
254
00:17:45,564 --> 00:17:49,818
It was trying to prevent people
from going to jazz clubs
255
00:17:49,902 --> 00:17:52,988
and dancing with people from other races.
256
00:18:34,071 --> 00:18:38,492
[Sloman] A lot of the music scene
and the ancillary use of pot
257
00:18:38,575 --> 00:18:39,993
happened in New York.
258
00:18:40,077 --> 00:18:41,537
And it happened in Harlem.
259
00:18:42,704 --> 00:18:47,626
White kids, who were kind of hip kids,
who were living in Brooklyn and in Queens,
260
00:18:47,709 --> 00:18:49,920
went up to Harlem on Saturday nights.
261
00:18:50,629 --> 00:18:52,881
You know, there was integration.
262
00:18:52,965 --> 00:18:56,260
I mean, you know, don't forget,
racism was endemic then.
263
00:18:56,927 --> 00:19:01,181
When they went up to Harlem, it was
the first exposure that white people had
264
00:19:01,265 --> 00:19:02,474
to black culture.
265
00:19:03,684 --> 00:19:05,936
[man]
Jazz in its day, was treated as hip hop.
266
00:19:07,146 --> 00:19:10,983
Marijuana was made illegal
partially because of the jazz scene.
267
00:19:11,066 --> 00:19:13,944
Because the jazz scene put black people
and white people together,
268
00:19:14,027 --> 00:19:15,946
in particular black men and white women.
269
00:19:16,029 --> 00:19:17,781
It was used as a tool of propaganda to say
270
00:19:17,865 --> 00:19:21,410
marijuana not only makes these niggas
uppity and think they're as smart as us,
271
00:19:21,493 --> 00:19:25,164
it allows our women to let
their guard down and start to dance,
272
00:19:25,247 --> 00:19:27,374
have fun, have sex, fuck, procreate.
273
00:19:27,457 --> 00:19:29,960
It relates
to a lot of the cultural anxieties
274
00:19:30,043 --> 00:19:35,007
that existed at the time, around
the notion that too much of this music,
275
00:19:35,090 --> 00:19:38,260
which is also associated
with too much of those drugs,
276
00:19:38,343 --> 00:19:42,598
is going to blacken the American
population and American culture
277
00:19:42,681 --> 00:19:44,183
in all kinds of scary ways.
278
00:19:57,404 --> 00:20:00,073
[man] Cannabis was always in Harlem
279
00:20:00,157 --> 00:20:06,288
and we had various names for it.
Like bou, as in bouquet.
280
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:11,335
Um... weed,
which people still use, you know, today.
281
00:20:11,877 --> 00:20:17,341
Pot, yeah. Pot was,
uh, one of the phrases.
282
00:20:17,424 --> 00:20:19,426
Old school people call it reefer.
283
00:20:19,509 --> 00:20:21,678
Bud, Mary Jane.
284
00:20:21,762 --> 00:20:23,430
Grass, pot.
285
00:20:23,513 --> 00:20:25,057
Sess, Buddha bless.
286
00:20:25,140 --> 00:20:27,142
-Dank.
-Hemp. Herb.
287
00:20:27,226 --> 00:20:29,102
They used to call it Christmas Tree
in Arizona.
288
00:20:29,186 --> 00:20:31,438
Weed, marijuana.
289
00:20:34,983 --> 00:20:38,820
[Brathwaite] The Harlem jazz scene spread
across the country and around the world.
290
00:20:38,904 --> 00:20:41,448
And the music continued
to grow in popularity.
291
00:20:41,990 --> 00:20:45,035
Soon, black jazz musicians
became household names.
292
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,914
With the ever-present
specter of integration,
293
00:20:48,997 --> 00:20:52,793
Anslinger's team targeted
the black community harder than ever.
294
00:20:54,753 --> 00:21:00,050
[Sloman] The Bureau of Narcotics
had a so-called scientist named Dr. Munch.
295
00:21:00,592 --> 00:21:03,178
He said that jazz musicians,
when they smoke pot,
296
00:21:03,887 --> 00:21:06,390
time would kind of bend for them.
297
00:21:06,473 --> 00:21:12,354
He says, one of the dangers of cannabis
is that it slows time down.
298
00:21:12,896 --> 00:21:14,356
And that's a bad thing.
299
00:21:14,940 --> 00:21:18,277
You know, everybody's got to be
on the same... four-four.
300
00:21:18,777 --> 00:21:23,115
They didn't-- They really, uh... They
thought that was a sign of something evil.
301
00:21:23,198 --> 00:21:28,537
And they...
just went after all the jazz people.
302
00:21:28,620 --> 00:21:32,666
The crackdown on jazz musicians
is accelerated.
303
00:21:33,250 --> 00:21:38,130
They were on Billie Holiday's case.
Monk's case. Charlie Parker's case.
304
00:21:38,213 --> 00:21:42,968
[Sloman] People like Louis Armstrong,
Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington,
305
00:21:43,051 --> 00:21:45,429
Count Basie, Dizzy.
306
00:21:48,223 --> 00:21:50,600
[man] Hey, cats,
it's four o'clock in the morning.
307
00:21:50,684 --> 00:21:52,269
Here we are in Harlem.
308
00:21:52,352 --> 00:21:55,897
Everybody is here but the police,
and they'll be here any minute.
309
00:21:55,981 --> 00:21:59,443
It's high time, so catch this song.
Here it is.
310
00:21:59,526 --> 00:22:01,528
[jaunty jazz music plays]
311
00:22:02,070 --> 00:22:06,158
[Brathwaite] Cannabis prohibition prompted
Fats Waller to record this classic.
312
00:22:16,043 --> 00:22:18,670
[Brathwaite]
But he changed the lyrics just a little,
313
00:22:18,754 --> 00:22:23,383
to pay homage to the biggest
cannabis dealer of the day, Mezz Mezzrow.
314
00:22:24,384 --> 00:22:27,304
[Sloman] Mezz Mezzrow was
a white Jewish guy from Chicago.
315
00:22:27,888 --> 00:22:29,890
[Dreisinger] He was the original,
316
00:22:29,973 --> 00:22:33,060
what Norman Mailer
would come to call The White Negro
317
00:22:33,143 --> 00:22:36,646
who imagined himself
as kind of becoming black through music.
318
00:22:37,230 --> 00:22:40,776
[Sloman] He was called
the ambassador between the races.
319
00:22:40,859 --> 00:22:42,903
He was called the white mayor of Harlem.
320
00:22:42,986 --> 00:22:48,116
And he becomes the leading dealer
to all the musicians in New York.
321
00:22:48,617 --> 00:22:52,662
And the brand that he was selling
was called the Mighty Mezz.
322
00:22:52,746 --> 00:22:55,374
He had a big tree
where he would stay under the tree.
323
00:22:55,457 --> 00:22:59,753
And everybody knew
that's where you got the Mighty Mezz.
324
00:23:21,608 --> 00:23:26,238
[Schaap] He became one of the leading
marijuana dealers in Harlem.
325
00:23:26,321 --> 00:23:31,868
So that there was a period where marijuana
and all kinds of slang terms about it
326
00:23:31,952 --> 00:23:35,247
used Mezzrow's name
as a roller with a long joint.
327
00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:44,297
And Louis Armstrong loved him
and he loved his high-quality marijuana.
328
00:23:45,090 --> 00:23:50,178
Mezz Mezzrow was arrested
under the Prohibition of Marijuana Act.
329
00:23:51,888 --> 00:23:54,641
And he's in jail for a day
330
00:23:55,475 --> 00:23:59,187
and writes a note to the warden,
331
00:23:59,271 --> 00:24:03,400
he's been misclassified as a white person.
332
00:24:04,776 --> 00:24:07,070
[Dreisinger]
When he was locked up on Riker's Island,
333
00:24:07,154 --> 00:24:10,490
he actually insisted on being
in the colored section.
334
00:24:11,825 --> 00:24:13,493
Pretty fascinating figure. He was also--
335
00:24:13,577 --> 00:24:17,706
Mezz Mezzrow was also a great influence
on the Beats, Jack Kerouac,
336
00:24:17,789 --> 00:24:20,333
and he was a predecessor
to that whole movement,
337
00:24:20,417 --> 00:24:21,626
the Beat Movement,
338
00:24:21,710 --> 00:24:25,714
and taught them
how to sort of be hip, be cool,
339
00:24:25,797 --> 00:24:28,633
by way of influence of all things black.
340
00:24:32,762 --> 00:24:34,723
[Brathwaite]
The beatniks took the ethos of jazz
341
00:24:34,806 --> 00:24:37,267
and brought it into poetry and literature.
342
00:24:38,101 --> 00:24:42,272
You learn everything you can accrue,
then come out and use it against them.
343
00:24:43,273 --> 00:24:47,319
[Preston] The immediacy of jazz,
the immediacy of beat life,
344
00:24:48,904 --> 00:24:54,826
brings together the cultural dynamic
that opens up creative expression
345
00:24:54,910 --> 00:24:57,496
for the next 50, 60 years or so.
346
00:24:57,579 --> 00:24:59,206
-Do you want to come upstairs?
-[man] Let's do it.
347
00:24:59,289 --> 00:25:00,123
Okay.
348
00:25:00,999 --> 00:25:05,921
[Preston] One of the main characteristics
of beat life was altered consciousness,
349
00:25:06,004 --> 00:25:09,257
how could altered consciousness
contribute to art.
350
00:25:09,341 --> 00:25:14,012
I mean, asking a beat person
if you smoked grass
351
00:25:14,095 --> 00:25:17,307
was like asking them if they were alive.
352
00:25:18,558 --> 00:25:22,771
We all got together the way
people get together to have a drink.
353
00:25:22,854 --> 00:25:25,106
We would get together
at each other's studios.
354
00:25:25,190 --> 00:25:27,567
Somebody would take out a joint,
355
00:25:27,651 --> 00:25:28,860
and we'd have a buzz.
356
00:25:29,569 --> 00:25:31,029
I'm 79,
357
00:25:32,322 --> 00:25:36,701
and I've been
smoking since I was 19.
358
00:25:38,245 --> 00:25:41,373
So, what's that, 60 years?
359
00:25:44,543 --> 00:25:46,503
It's probably hard to see me in this one,
360
00:25:46,586 --> 00:25:50,215
but this is me
in the artist's studio here.
361
00:25:53,009 --> 00:25:55,345
People today do not understand
362
00:25:56,263 --> 00:26:01,309
what beat culture did
for the freedom of expression.
363
00:26:01,893 --> 00:26:06,022
Here's Ginsberg.
We had this reading with City College
364
00:26:06,106 --> 00:26:10,860
and the authorities were afraid that they
were going to use profanity on campus.
365
00:26:10,944 --> 00:26:12,070
[chuckles]
366
00:26:12,153 --> 00:26:14,030
[Preston] You can tell by the way I talk,
367
00:26:14,114 --> 00:26:16,741
that I must've smoked
a hell of a lot of marijuana.
368
00:26:17,450 --> 00:26:21,955
Because everything I've said
can be looked at
369
00:26:22,038 --> 00:26:26,793
as being totally induced
by reefer madness.
370
00:26:26,876 --> 00:26:28,878
[laughs]
371
00:26:31,006 --> 00:26:32,549
[Brathwaite]
Influenced by the beatniks,
372
00:26:32,632 --> 00:26:36,595
the hippie movement would bring cannabis
into the mainstream consciousness
373
00:26:36,678 --> 00:26:38,555
from cities to suburbs,
374
00:26:38,638 --> 00:26:42,434
becoming a permanent part of
the counterculture in America and beyond.
375
00:26:42,976 --> 00:26:47,188
[Preston] Hippie culture made it possible
for marijuana to become legal...
376
00:26:47,772 --> 00:26:54,112
because so many people,
meaning white people, smoked marijuana.
377
00:26:54,904 --> 00:26:57,616
[Brathwaite]
Cannabis was embraced by a new generation.
378
00:26:57,699 --> 00:26:59,451
People smoked it in public.
379
00:26:59,534 --> 00:27:01,453
White musicians now sang about it.
380
00:27:02,203 --> 00:27:05,498
And the argument for legalization
entered the national debate.
381
00:27:06,625 --> 00:27:10,003
[Hager] Ginsberg is the one
who really blows it up,
382
00:27:10,086 --> 00:27:13,882
so that it becomes more than
just a subcultural phenomenon,
383
00:27:13,965 --> 00:27:19,929
because Ginsberg then began to kind of
agitate for the legalization of marijuana.
384
00:27:26,186 --> 00:27:29,773
[Preston] Let me read you something
that Allen wrote in 1965,
385
00:27:29,856 --> 00:27:34,319
"No one has yet remarked
that the suppression of Negro rights,
386
00:27:34,402 --> 00:27:37,113
culture and sensibility in America,
387
00:27:37,864 --> 00:27:41,117
has been complicated
by the marijuana laws.
388
00:27:41,910 --> 00:27:44,829
Use of marijuana
has always been widespread
389
00:27:44,913 --> 00:27:47,666
among the Negro population
in this country.
390
00:27:48,291 --> 00:27:50,669
And suppression of its use,
391
00:27:50,752 --> 00:27:55,048
with constant friction
and bludgeoning of the law,
392
00:27:55,131 --> 00:28:00,178
has been a major unconscious
or unmentionable method of assault
393
00:28:00,261 --> 00:28:01,721
on the Negro person."
394
00:28:09,854 --> 00:28:15,235
[Brathwaite] In two critical pieces
of legislation, the Boggs Act of 1951
395
00:28:15,318 --> 00:28:20,365
and the Eisenhower Narcotics Act,
mandatory minimum laws were imposed,
396
00:28:20,448 --> 00:28:24,577
making it now possible for low-level
drug convictions, like cannabis,
397
00:28:24,661 --> 00:28:27,622
to result in over 20-year prison terms.
398
00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:31,251
Enforcing these laws would escalate
in the coming years,
399
00:28:31,334 --> 00:28:36,047
culminating in President Nixon's
inflamed, anti-marijuana rhetoric
400
00:28:36,131 --> 00:28:39,676
and his declaration
of an all-out war on drugs.
401
00:28:42,262 --> 00:28:46,349
America's public enemy number one
is drug abuse.
402
00:28:47,475 --> 00:28:49,686
In order to fight and defeat this enemy,
403
00:28:49,769 --> 00:28:54,149
it is necessary to wage
a new all-out offensive.
404
00:28:55,734 --> 00:29:00,822
[Nixon] I shall soon propose a revision
of the entire federal criminal code,
405
00:29:01,448 --> 00:29:05,744
which will give us tougher penalties
against drugs and against crime.
406
00:29:06,870 --> 00:29:10,206
[Brathwaite] Nixon, fearing that the wrath
of social and political movements
407
00:29:10,290 --> 00:29:11,875
were a threat to his presidency,
408
00:29:11,958 --> 00:29:17,672
signed the Controlled Substances Act
into law on October 27th, 1970.
409
00:29:18,506 --> 00:29:22,177
This new law established
our current federal drug policy,
410
00:29:22,260 --> 00:29:24,387
established the DEA,
411
00:29:24,471 --> 00:29:28,391
and expanded law enforcement
for crimes related to illegal drugs.
412
00:29:29,142 --> 00:29:31,728
[Hart] In the United States,
we have five schedules.
413
00:29:31,811 --> 00:29:34,814
Schedule I are drugs that are banned.
414
00:29:34,898 --> 00:29:38,401
Drugs like heroin,
they have no medical use
415
00:29:38,485 --> 00:29:42,363
and they have high abuse potential
or addictive potential.
416
00:29:46,075 --> 00:29:49,537
From Schedule II to Schedule V,
drugs are legal.
417
00:29:49,621 --> 00:29:51,706
A physician can write
a prescription for them.
418
00:29:51,790 --> 00:29:54,375
They can be used in medical practice.
419
00:29:57,796 --> 00:30:00,215
Cannabis is on Schedule I.
420
00:30:01,132 --> 00:30:03,885
That means that it's banned
for the entire country.
421
00:30:05,220 --> 00:30:07,430
[Brathwaite] As part of his war on drugs,
422
00:30:07,514 --> 00:30:11,309
Nixon commissioned a report
to investigate the dangers of marijuana.
423
00:30:11,392 --> 00:30:16,815
The results of the report proved him wrong
and its findings were so controversial
424
00:30:16,898 --> 00:30:19,859
that three of its authors
held a live televised event
425
00:30:19,943 --> 00:30:22,153
to share the truth with the public.
426
00:30:22,237 --> 00:30:26,282
[man] The Shafer Report:
What to do about marihuana.
427
00:30:26,366 --> 00:30:29,911
The Shafer Commission
pulled together all this information,
428
00:30:29,994 --> 00:30:31,162
all this research.
429
00:30:31,246 --> 00:30:32,455
And they basically came out
430
00:30:32,539 --> 00:30:34,999
and said the same thing
that the LaGuardia Commission said.
431
00:30:35,083 --> 00:30:38,628
That this has largely
been mischaracterized.
432
00:30:41,256 --> 00:30:46,469
There has been previous misinformation,
false statements, and for that reason,
433
00:30:46,553 --> 00:30:50,014
we've attempted to demythologize the drug.
434
00:30:50,098 --> 00:30:55,144
The occasional use of marijuana
does not do any physical harm
435
00:30:55,228 --> 00:30:57,814
and may not do any psychological harm.
436
00:30:57,897 --> 00:31:01,109
[scientist] Unfortunately,
because marijuana has become politicized,
437
00:31:01,192 --> 00:31:03,152
the realities have become blurred.
438
00:31:03,236 --> 00:31:06,823
We hope that you will
study our report carefully
439
00:31:06,906 --> 00:31:10,159
and that it will have
an influence in America.
440
00:31:10,702 --> 00:31:12,078
[Brathwaite] But it didn't.
441
00:31:12,161 --> 00:31:14,622
Instead of following
the advice of the report,
442
00:31:14,706 --> 00:31:18,376
which recommended decriminalizing
small amounts of marijuana,
443
00:31:18,459 --> 00:31:20,044
Nixon doubled down.
444
00:31:20,628 --> 00:31:25,133
I shall continue to oppose efforts
to legalize marijuana.
445
00:31:25,216 --> 00:31:30,555
I shall propose mandatory,
new tough penalties for drug pushers.
446
00:31:31,306 --> 00:31:34,726
♪ Come on, brother, get down ♪
447
00:31:34,809 --> 00:31:37,520
♪ Things are gonna get better ♪
448
00:31:37,604 --> 00:31:39,272
[Sloman] And it became political.
449
00:31:40,315 --> 00:31:43,985
And then they started going after people
who were anti-war and anti-establishment
450
00:31:44,068 --> 00:31:45,486
and putting them in jail.
451
00:31:47,655 --> 00:31:52,327
You know, it really became
a tool to repress dissent.
452
00:31:56,915 --> 00:32:00,793
[Brathwaite] Tapes recorded during Nixon's
presidency were revealed decades later
453
00:32:00,877 --> 00:32:02,670
and exposed Nixon's private anger.
454
00:32:03,546 --> 00:32:06,007
[Nixon] I want a goddamn
strong statement on marijuana.
455
00:32:06,090 --> 00:32:08,843
I mean, one on marijuana
that just tears the ass out of them.
456
00:32:08,927 --> 00:32:12,847
Funny thing, every one of the bastards
out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish.
457
00:32:13,431 --> 00:32:17,560
What the Christ is the matter with Jews,
Bob? What is the matter with them?
458
00:32:18,102 --> 00:32:21,731
By God, we are going to hit
the marijuana thing,
459
00:32:21,814 --> 00:32:24,067
and I want to hit it
right square in the puss.
460
00:32:24,943 --> 00:32:27,695
[Brathwaite]
John Ehrlichman, a close Nixon advisor,
461
00:32:27,779 --> 00:32:31,491
divulged the sinister truth
behind their harsh drug policy.
462
00:32:33,785 --> 00:32:38,873
He said, "We couldn't make it illegal
to be either against the war or black,
463
00:32:38,957 --> 00:32:42,126
but by getting the public to associate
the hippies with marijuana
464
00:32:42,210 --> 00:32:46,089
and blacks with heroin,
and then criminalizing both heavily,
465
00:32:46,172 --> 00:32:48,257
we could disrupt those communities."
466
00:32:48,341 --> 00:32:49,968
[Hager] They weren't worried
about people getting high.
467
00:32:50,051 --> 00:32:54,639
They were worried about
people marching against war.
468
00:32:54,722 --> 00:32:58,393
The drug war targeted hippies
and black people in particular.
469
00:32:58,476 --> 00:33:02,355
Hippies are white people progressive
enough to feel that we are not superior
470
00:33:02,438 --> 00:33:05,316
to people based on race.
[chuckles] All right?
471
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,235
So, let's get progressives
472
00:33:07,318 --> 00:33:10,738
and the black people that they
advocate for or on the behalf of,
473
00:33:10,822 --> 00:33:13,992
let's get them forever on the target list
of US law enforcement.
474
00:33:14,075 --> 00:33:17,120
This is where drugs
becomes a proxy to race, right?
475
00:33:17,203 --> 00:33:21,791
We used to just be able to say,
"We killed him because he was a nigger."
476
00:33:21,874 --> 00:33:23,126
Can't say that anymore.
477
00:33:23,209 --> 00:33:28,631
So what you got, because you could
no longer legally write race into the law,
478
00:33:29,132 --> 00:33:31,259
you could write drugs into the law.
479
00:33:37,682 --> 00:33:39,684
[reggae music plays]
480
00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:46,399
[Brathwaite]
Back in the mid-1970s, I was a teenager
481
00:33:46,482 --> 00:33:49,819
and a new sound
was hitting the streets: reggae.
482
00:33:52,363 --> 00:33:55,241
Similar to the counterculture movement
in America,
483
00:33:55,324 --> 00:33:57,035
there was a growing movement in Jamaica
484
00:33:57,118 --> 00:33:59,162
against the remnants
of British colonialism.
485
00:33:59,787 --> 00:34:03,499
And like jazz musicians were
the focus of a government crackdown,
486
00:34:03,583 --> 00:34:07,962
Rastafarians and reggae music
found themselves deemed public enemies.
487
00:34:18,514 --> 00:34:21,726
The Rastafarian faith began in the 1930s.
488
00:34:22,143 --> 00:34:25,813
Cannabis, known in Jamaica
by its Indian name ganja,
489
00:34:25,897 --> 00:34:27,648
was their spiritual sacrament.
490
00:34:28,107 --> 00:34:30,860
The Rastas' radical
black nationalist beliefs
491
00:34:30,943 --> 00:34:32,236
and dreadlock hairstyles,
492
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,572
made them perpetual outcasts
493
00:34:34,655 --> 00:34:38,409
until the popularity
of reggae music in the 1970s.
494
00:34:39,452 --> 00:34:44,123
[man] When Rasta emerged, it was seen
almost like a cult and people were scared.
495
00:34:46,626 --> 00:34:49,921
You know, we get so used to the images
of Peter Tosh and Bob Marley
496
00:34:50,004 --> 00:34:51,798
and songs like "One Love,"
497
00:34:51,881 --> 00:34:56,010
that we kind of forget that really
these guys were really real rebels...
498
00:34:56,094 --> 00:35:00,598
You know, they were, you know,
not really accepted by society.
499
00:35:04,769 --> 00:35:08,189
Rasta came to be accepted
within Jamaican society through the music.
500
00:35:08,272 --> 00:35:10,274
This is now the popular music of the day
501
00:35:10,358 --> 00:35:12,860
and the popular song of the day
in the island,
502
00:35:12,944 --> 00:35:13,861
you know what I mean?
503
00:35:13,945 --> 00:35:16,864
So, that brought a lot of power
to the movement when that happened.
504
00:35:29,335 --> 00:35:31,504
[Brathwaite] Most people know
the Jamaican word ganja,
505
00:35:31,587 --> 00:35:33,297
but few knew about kaya,
506
00:35:33,381 --> 00:35:36,676
a word for cannabis
that Bob Marley sang a song about.
507
00:35:36,759 --> 00:35:39,762
♪ Got to have kaya now ♪
508
00:35:39,846 --> 00:35:41,681
♪ Kaya, kaya ♪
509
00:35:41,764 --> 00:35:44,684
♪ Got to have kaya now ♪
510
00:35:44,767 --> 00:35:46,686
♪ Kaya, kaya ♪
511
00:35:46,769 --> 00:35:47,979
♪ Got to have kaya ♪
512
00:35:48,062 --> 00:35:50,940
[Damian Marley] And then because of
my father's now international success
513
00:35:51,023 --> 00:35:53,151
and being accepted throughout the world
514
00:35:53,234 --> 00:35:56,779
that ended up kind of holding up a mirror
to Jamaica, saying, "What you doing?"
515
00:35:56,863 --> 00:35:59,574
Because how you're not going
to accept your own people,
516
00:35:59,657 --> 00:36:01,534
but they're being loved all over the world
517
00:36:01,617 --> 00:36:03,911
and accepted and invited
all over the world. You know what I mean?
518
00:36:03,995 --> 00:36:05,163
Have fans all over the world.
519
00:36:05,246 --> 00:36:07,373
[all] Rastafari.
520
00:36:07,456 --> 00:36:08,624
[exclaims]
521
00:36:10,001 --> 00:36:13,004
[Brathwaite] Bunny, can you talk
about your early relationship with ganja?
522
00:36:13,087 --> 00:36:15,423
I understand your father
was a ganja farmer.
523
00:36:15,882 --> 00:36:18,509
I don't think I like that
kind of a conversation.
524
00:36:20,094 --> 00:36:23,514
Yeah, you sound like a police.
525
00:36:23,598 --> 00:36:25,600
[laughing]
526
00:36:27,518 --> 00:36:31,981
The purpose of the ganja,
it's good for the human consumption.
527
00:36:32,982 --> 00:36:37,069
The medicine it carries,
the whole world gravitates to it.
528
00:36:37,778 --> 00:36:39,864
Rasta and ganja are twins.
529
00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:45,328
I would say the original Wailers
been Bunny, Peter, and Bob.
530
00:36:45,411 --> 00:36:49,624
Of course, all of them were advocates
for the legalization of marijuana.
531
00:36:49,707 --> 00:36:50,666
You know what I mean?
532
00:36:50,750 --> 00:36:53,961
So I guess in that kind of case,
being if you are a fan of their music,
533
00:36:54,045 --> 00:36:56,672
you would perhaps become an advocate also.
534
00:37:14,815 --> 00:37:18,402
[woman] Peter Tosh, he said,
"Legalize it, because it is good for you."
535
00:37:18,486 --> 00:37:21,405
And not only legalize it,
but I will advertise it.
536
00:37:21,906 --> 00:37:27,745
Peter Tosh did a revolutionary thing,
did many revolutionary things, right?
537
00:37:27,828 --> 00:37:31,082
He is who really was reggae music for me
in the beginning,
538
00:37:31,165 --> 00:37:33,209
because of how fierce he was.
539
00:37:33,292 --> 00:37:36,712
And this is a dark-skinned man
who get beaten by police.
540
00:37:40,883 --> 00:37:43,010
[Damian Marley]
Peter Tosh's "Legalize" is an anthem.
541
00:37:43,094 --> 00:37:45,263
And part of what was
the highlight of that song
542
00:37:45,346 --> 00:37:48,266
is really the medical benefits
of the plant. You know what I mean?
543
00:37:48,349 --> 00:37:51,310
I smoke recreationally,
but it's much more important
544
00:37:51,394 --> 00:37:53,813
the value
that the medicinal side of the plant
545
00:37:53,896 --> 00:37:55,231
is bringing to the table right now.
546
00:37:55,314 --> 00:37:57,858
You talk about some serious illnesses,
serious diseases,
547
00:37:57,942 --> 00:37:59,485
and these things that it's helping with.
548
00:38:10,121 --> 00:38:12,498
[Brathwaite] But Tosh's list
of the plant's health benefits
549
00:38:12,581 --> 00:38:15,209
was not just based on
Rastafarian folklore.
550
00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:18,754
It was that same year that
a man in Florida received medical access
551
00:38:18,838 --> 00:38:20,798
to cannabis for glaucoma.
552
00:38:22,341 --> 00:38:23,801
[Hart] The federal government
553
00:38:23,884 --> 00:38:28,431
has a federal cannabis
medical marijuana program.
554
00:38:28,514 --> 00:38:32,893
It highlights the hypocrisy
in American drug policy,
555
00:38:32,977 --> 00:38:36,105
because we say, "Cannabis is bad,"
556
00:38:36,188 --> 00:38:39,317
but yet it's clear
that it has medical utility.
557
00:38:41,402 --> 00:38:43,904
What you can call me is
a neuropsychopharmacologist.
558
00:38:43,988 --> 00:38:45,114
And I'll break that down.
559
00:38:45,197 --> 00:38:49,410
So, "neuro" is just
the study of the brain, brain cells.
560
00:38:49,493 --> 00:38:52,455
"Psycho" just means
the study of human behavior.
561
00:38:52,538 --> 00:38:54,623
And "pharmacology," the study of drugs.
562
00:38:54,707 --> 00:38:58,794
So you combine the study
of brain cells and the brain
563
00:38:58,878 --> 00:39:02,923
with human behavior with drugs,
that's who I am. That's what I do.
564
00:39:04,383 --> 00:39:10,097
We have conducted studies
that have shown that cannabis has
565
00:39:10,181 --> 00:39:13,392
potential medical benefit
for some conditions.
566
00:39:13,476 --> 00:39:16,896
Now, remember, DEA,
or the Drug Enforcement Agency,
567
00:39:16,979 --> 00:39:19,315
is a law enforcement agency.
568
00:39:19,398 --> 00:39:23,861
What in the hell
does a law enforcement agency
569
00:39:23,944 --> 00:39:26,447
have to do with medicine or pharmacology?
570
00:39:26,947 --> 00:39:28,532
Absolutely nothing.
571
00:39:28,616 --> 00:39:34,121
But it shows that the scheduling
of cannabis and other drugs,
572
00:39:34,955 --> 00:39:38,876
it has more to do with politics
than it does science.
573
00:39:38,959 --> 00:39:42,004
If you'll place your left hand
on the Bible and raise your right hand.
574
00:39:42,713 --> 00:39:45,132
I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear...
575
00:39:45,216 --> 00:39:49,637
"That I will faithfully execute the office
of President of the United States."
576
00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:50,971
[Reagan] That I will faithfully execute
577
00:39:51,055 --> 00:39:53,641
the office
of President of the United States.
578
00:39:53,724 --> 00:39:55,851
[Hart] When we think about the '80s,
579
00:39:56,310 --> 00:39:58,979
the worst thing for the community
was Ronald Reagan.
580
00:39:59,063 --> 00:40:04,860
We often talk about crack or other drugs
being put into our communities
581
00:40:04,944 --> 00:40:08,781
and we don't talk about
what Ronald Reagan took out.
582
00:40:11,409 --> 00:40:14,954
Because everything that would
send people into chaotic drug use,
583
00:40:15,037 --> 00:40:18,040
everything that would make it impossible
for people to get treatment,
584
00:40:18,666 --> 00:40:23,379
everything that would make somebody say,
"My life matters," was taken away.
585
00:40:23,462 --> 00:40:26,424
Jobs, healthcare, housing.
586
00:40:26,507 --> 00:40:32,138
Poor education, deprived communities,
and crack just happened to be there.
587
00:40:33,889 --> 00:40:35,057
[man] This is drugs.
588
00:40:36,350 --> 00:40:38,269
This is your brain on drugs.
589
00:40:39,728 --> 00:40:40,855
Any questions?
590
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:43,983
Drugs are menacing our society.
591
00:40:44,066 --> 00:40:47,445
They're threatening our values
and undercutting our institutions.
592
00:40:47,528 --> 00:40:48,988
They're killing our children.
593
00:40:49,071 --> 00:40:54,493
The casual user may think when he takes
a line of cocaine or smokes a joint
594
00:40:54,577 --> 00:40:59,707
in the privacy of his nice condo,
listening to his expensive stereo,
595
00:41:00,583 --> 00:41:02,918
that he's somehow not bothering anyone.
596
00:41:03,878 --> 00:41:06,005
But there's a trail of death
and destruction
597
00:41:06,088 --> 00:41:08,174
that leads directly to his door.
598
00:41:08,257 --> 00:41:11,343
Terrifying evil of drugs
and the dangers of marijuana.
599
00:41:11,427 --> 00:41:12,970
Illegal drugs are deadly.
600
00:41:13,053 --> 00:41:16,891
Leading medical researchers
are coming to the conclusion
601
00:41:16,974 --> 00:41:18,058
that marijuana,
602
00:41:18,142 --> 00:41:20,811
pot, grass, whatever you wanna call it,
603
00:41:20,895 --> 00:41:24,440
is probably the most dangerous drug
in the United States.
604
00:41:24,523 --> 00:41:26,567
Dangerous drug. Dangerous drug.
605
00:41:26,650 --> 00:41:30,279
And we haven't begun to find out
all of the ill effects,
606
00:41:30,362 --> 00:41:31,822
but they are permanent ill effects.
607
00:41:36,327 --> 00:41:40,247
[Frederique] Government officials
consistently peddle propaganda,
608
00:41:41,582 --> 00:41:43,709
despite the proof and the evidence.
609
00:41:44,627 --> 00:41:49,882
And if you're talking about the drug war,
you cannot ignore the role
610
00:41:49,965 --> 00:41:52,092
that marijuana prohibition has played.
611
00:41:52,635 --> 00:41:57,223
You know, nearly half of all drug arrests
are for marijuana.
612
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:02,728
A disproportionate majority
of those arrests are of people of color.
613
00:42:04,021 --> 00:42:07,066
Take, for example,
a place like New York City.
614
00:42:07,650 --> 00:42:12,738
For the last 20 years,
the racial disparities have hovered
615
00:42:12,821 --> 00:42:16,534
between 80 and 85% of arrests
being black and Latino.
616
00:42:17,701 --> 00:42:21,664
If you're looking at the way
that marijuana laws are being enforced,
617
00:42:21,747 --> 00:42:28,170
then you're recognizing the racial
injustice that is law enforcement. Right?
618
00:42:28,254 --> 00:42:33,050
Law enforcement is going in communities
of color and enforcing marijuana laws
619
00:42:33,133 --> 00:42:34,843
at disproportionate rates.
620
00:42:34,927 --> 00:42:36,845
And you know,
some people will say things like,
621
00:42:36,929 --> 00:42:40,766
"Well, it has to be
the fact that, you know, people of color
622
00:42:40,849 --> 00:42:43,686
are using marijuana at higher rates."
623
00:42:43,769 --> 00:42:47,106
But what government data
consistently shows us
624
00:42:47,189 --> 00:42:50,359
is that everyone's using marijuana
at the same rates.
625
00:42:53,404 --> 00:42:57,575
[Bandele] In the 1980s,
when black people were being just...
626
00:42:58,158 --> 00:43:04,206
like Nazi Germany on trains,
just being shipped into prisons wholesale.
627
00:43:04,290 --> 00:43:09,378
Right? 2.5 million people go missing
on our watch in our lifetime,
628
00:43:09,461 --> 00:43:10,921
our family members.
629
00:43:12,423 --> 00:43:15,259
And they are sent to prisons.
630
00:43:18,762 --> 00:43:24,226
At the same time, on Wall Street
and throughout law firms in America,
631
00:43:24,310 --> 00:43:27,187
people were using crack, white people.
632
00:43:27,271 --> 00:43:28,814
They were using powdered cocaine,
633
00:43:28,897 --> 00:43:32,568
which is pharmaceutically
the exact same drug as crack.
634
00:43:32,651 --> 00:43:36,196
And you know what they got?
Employee assistance programs.
635
00:43:36,822 --> 00:43:39,783
They got treatment. They got another shot.
636
00:43:40,618 --> 00:43:41,869
We got life imprisonment.
637
00:43:48,542 --> 00:43:50,127
[hip hop music plays]
638
00:43:55,132 --> 00:43:57,051
[Brathwaite] New York in the 1980s.
639
00:43:57,134 --> 00:44:00,554
Yeah, baby. Downtown, the arts scene
was really blowing up.
640
00:44:00,638 --> 00:44:01,722
Things was popping.
641
00:44:01,805 --> 00:44:05,100
But uptown, in the Bronx,
a new sound was hitting the streets,
642
00:44:05,684 --> 00:44:06,810
something called hip hop.
643
00:44:10,230 --> 00:44:14,193
Rappers were telling stories about
a city ravaged by Reagan's policies
644
00:44:14,276 --> 00:44:16,153
and scarred by the influx of crack.
645
00:44:20,491 --> 00:44:23,577
Music videos like
"White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash,
646
00:44:23,661 --> 00:44:27,665
Brand Nubian, and Public Enemy
weren't glorifying cocaine.
647
00:44:27,748 --> 00:44:30,834
They were telling it like it is.
Use it and you can die.
648
00:44:50,896 --> 00:44:55,275
On the war on drugs, hip hop has done
a better job than the fucking government.
649
00:44:55,776 --> 00:45:01,365
Because how many hip hop artists
do you know that built record labels,
650
00:45:01,448 --> 00:45:05,119
gave opportunity, showed people
how to make money other ways?
651
00:45:05,202 --> 00:45:09,373
Like, that's the war on drugs, not locking
motherfuckers up and coming in the hood
652
00:45:09,456 --> 00:45:12,251
just harassing people
and planting drugs on people
653
00:45:12,334 --> 00:45:15,838
and, you know, doing all the shit
that they do. That's a real war.
654
00:45:16,380 --> 00:45:19,174
We're not the war on drugs.
We're fighting the war on drugs.
655
00:45:28,726 --> 00:45:32,271
The era before me,
they was on PCP, heroin,
656
00:45:32,354 --> 00:45:34,440
uppers, downers, all kind of shit.
657
00:45:34,523 --> 00:45:38,861
And I don't know if people knew this,
I was a cocaine drug dealer
658
00:45:39,486 --> 00:45:43,574
and I was to the point to where I had seen
so many people destructively die
659
00:45:43,657 --> 00:45:45,284
and get hooked on that shit.
660
00:45:46,410 --> 00:45:48,829
My mission was to get
everybody hooked on chronic.
661
00:45:49,955 --> 00:45:51,623
We wanted to do something that was fly.
662
00:45:51,707 --> 00:45:53,709
And every time we seen somebody
smoking weed in the '70s,
663
00:45:53,792 --> 00:45:55,502
they was fly as a motherfucker.
664
00:45:55,586 --> 00:45:59,256
And every time we seen an entertainer
or a singer that was weed related,
665
00:45:59,339 --> 00:46:00,424
they was fly as fuck.
666
00:46:00,507 --> 00:46:03,719
Anything that was related to weed
was always cool shit.
667
00:46:08,474 --> 00:46:11,685
Here's something
that's totally perfect for this.
668
00:46:12,644 --> 00:46:15,773
"Rock Box." Run DMC's song, "Rock Box."
669
00:46:15,856 --> 00:46:17,983
♪ Wheeling, dealing
You've got a funny feeling ♪
670
00:46:18,066 --> 00:46:20,360
♪ You rock from the floor
Up to the ceiling ♪
671
00:46:20,444 --> 00:46:22,821
♪ Grooving, you're moving
It has been proven ♪
672
00:46:22,905 --> 00:46:25,157
♪ We calm the savage beast
Because our music is soothing ♪
673
00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:26,325
Check this out.
674
00:46:26,909 --> 00:46:31,205
That rhyme originally
was a rhyme about weed, man.
675
00:46:31,288 --> 00:46:33,957
♪ Wheeling, dealing
You've got a funny feeling ♪
676
00:46:34,041 --> 00:46:36,585
♪ You try to smoke that sesamillion ♪
677
00:46:36,668 --> 00:46:41,381
♪ You tried your best to smoke that ses
Now it busts your motherfucking chest ♪
678
00:46:41,465 --> 00:46:42,633
So, it was a weed rhyme.
679
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,605
[McDaniels] My generation, it was herb.
680
00:46:56,688 --> 00:46:59,358
And I remember
the first time that I smoked it.
681
00:46:59,441 --> 00:47:03,070
I was 12 years old
and it was a guy named Dexter Miller.
682
00:47:03,153 --> 00:47:05,405
And Dexter was 15 years old, right?
683
00:47:05,489 --> 00:47:08,367
This is funny though,
'cause we smoked it, right,
684
00:47:08,450 --> 00:47:10,077
and it was good.
685
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:11,995
It was cool, and we're sitting there.
686
00:47:12,079 --> 00:47:14,540
So the next day I come over his house
and it's just funny,
687
00:47:14,623 --> 00:47:18,085
I come over there, "Yo, Dexter, man,
can we smoke some more marijuana?"
688
00:47:18,168 --> 00:47:21,046
And he goes,
"Man, don't say it like that, man.
689
00:47:21,129 --> 00:47:22,005
It's weed."
690
00:47:26,468 --> 00:47:29,263
♪ Hey, girl. What up?
You got that cheeba cheeba? ♪
691
00:47:29,346 --> 00:47:31,473
That was about as big as "Fresh."
692
00:47:31,557 --> 00:47:34,393
The information and the education
leaped through the music.
693
00:47:34,476 --> 00:47:37,020
It never really boomed through the music
694
00:47:37,104 --> 00:47:40,941
because the feds were always lurking
to see if they could find a lead.
695
00:47:45,988 --> 00:47:49,032
[Brathwaite] Just as jazz musicians
sang about their favorite dealer,
696
00:47:49,116 --> 00:47:50,033
the Mighty Mezz,
697
00:47:50,534 --> 00:47:55,497
hip hop artists rapped about
their own weed legend: Harlem's Branson.
698
00:48:00,252 --> 00:48:02,004
♪ Microphone check, one, two ♪
699
00:48:08,635 --> 00:48:12,556
Branson is...
his name is like, in Harlem...
700
00:48:12,639 --> 00:48:16,727
I mean, the same way you know
Fredrick Douglass Boulevard,
701
00:48:16,810 --> 00:48:18,812
you know Branson. [chuckles]
702
00:48:23,984 --> 00:48:26,028
[man] If you smoked weed
and listened to hip hop,
703
00:48:26,111 --> 00:48:27,487
you knew about Branson
704
00:48:27,571 --> 00:48:31,700
because he was referenced by everybody
in these hip hop songs.
705
00:48:33,327 --> 00:48:36,580
Red Man, Method Man, Wu-Tang, you name it.
706
00:48:36,663 --> 00:48:38,916
They all mentioned going to see Branson.
707
00:48:44,254 --> 00:48:47,090
And people starting hearing like,
"Branson, Branson, Branson."
708
00:48:47,174 --> 00:48:49,801
You would think that
he had his own strain. [laughs]
709
00:48:49,885 --> 00:48:51,595
He was like Keyser Soze back then.
710
00:48:51,678 --> 00:48:54,348
It was like this legendary figure
you heard of but never really seen.
711
00:49:00,854 --> 00:49:03,065
[B-Real]
You can find trash weed everywhere,
712
00:49:03,148 --> 00:49:06,610
but, like, when you wanna find that shit,
713
00:49:06,693 --> 00:49:09,279
you know, guys like that
come into the fold.
714
00:49:09,363 --> 00:49:10,781
And we would hear his name a lot.
715
00:49:14,826 --> 00:49:17,704
[Branson] I ain't never asked nobody
to put my name in no record.
716
00:49:17,788 --> 00:49:19,706
Next thing I knew, I turned around,
717
00:49:19,790 --> 00:49:22,751
there's 70-plus songs
that I've been mentioned in.
718
00:49:22,834 --> 00:49:24,503
So, at the end of the day,
719
00:49:24,586 --> 00:49:28,423
I'd imagine that
I've provided a quality service.
720
00:49:30,050 --> 00:49:33,387
That 70 songs represents a global scale.
721
00:49:37,975 --> 00:49:40,644
You know, when Biggie did that
"Tracy Lee" joint--
722
00:49:40,727 --> 00:49:43,063
♪ If you don't wanna die
Keep your hands high ♪
723
00:49:43,146 --> 00:49:45,983
Biggie was in the studio,
he called me to come see him.
724
00:49:46,066 --> 00:49:49,611
And I went down there to take care of him
and then when I got there, he said,
725
00:49:49,695 --> 00:49:52,364
"You know I couldn't do this shit
till you got here."
726
00:49:52,447 --> 00:49:57,452
And then he spit that shit. Yo,
the studio was rocking so crazy, man.
727
00:49:57,536 --> 00:49:59,788
I was like, "Wow!" And then...
728
00:50:06,378 --> 00:50:08,463
♪ Now we lampin'
Twelve-room mansion ♪
729
00:50:08,547 --> 00:50:10,340
[Branson] ♪ Took me and Little Cease ♪
730
00:50:10,424 --> 00:50:13,343
No.
♪ We took Kim and Cease advance ♪
731
00:50:13,427 --> 00:50:17,848
♪ Bought ten pounds
Of weed plant from Branson ♪
732
00:50:17,931 --> 00:50:19,016
♪ Now we lampin' ♪
733
00:50:19,099 --> 00:50:20,726
You don't expect that shit.
734
00:50:20,809 --> 00:50:24,146
♪ If you don't wanna die
Keep your hands high ♪
735
00:50:31,528 --> 00:50:35,323
[Branson] Cannabis
has always been legal in my situation.
736
00:50:35,407 --> 00:50:37,951
I really had a dispensary.
737
00:50:38,535 --> 00:50:40,162
A stationary location.
738
00:50:40,245 --> 00:50:45,292
I serviced the community
with marijuana products and variety, hash.
739
00:50:45,375 --> 00:50:48,920
We had Thais on a stick,
we had the thin sticks, the big sticks.
740
00:50:49,004 --> 00:50:50,213
You understand what I'm saying?
741
00:50:50,839 --> 00:50:55,594
Now, here it is that you got dispensaries
and they got menus and shit like that.
742
00:50:55,677 --> 00:50:58,305
I mean, I had a menu
that wasn't on paper then.
743
00:51:00,265 --> 00:51:02,601
[Brathwaite]
So, wait a minute, we're on 123rd Street.
744
00:51:02,684 --> 00:51:05,896
[Branson] Yeah, that's right.
We're on 123rd Street, you know, so...
745
00:51:05,979 --> 00:51:08,398
[Brathwaite] So this was a block,
when I was a kid in the 70s,
746
00:51:08,482 --> 00:51:12,360
I came up here because this was where
we heard you could get chunky black.
747
00:51:12,444 --> 00:51:15,030
[Branson] 123rd Street.
Yep. It was clockin'.
748
00:51:15,113 --> 00:51:19,326
-It was amazing up and down this block.
-Motherfuckers was turning paper.
749
00:51:19,409 --> 00:51:21,661
Looks like these niggas
are still out here hustling.
750
00:51:21,745 --> 00:51:22,954
[laughing]
751
00:51:23,038 --> 00:51:24,623
It look like he got it.
752
00:51:24,706 --> 00:51:26,249
-You might have it.
-You might have it.
753
00:51:26,333 --> 00:51:27,709
-For real.
-He got the bag.
754
00:51:27,793 --> 00:51:28,919
Yeah.
755
00:51:38,220 --> 00:51:41,264
[Brathwaite] Meanwhile, on the West Coast,
a new brand of hip hop
756
00:51:41,348 --> 00:51:44,559
would bring cannabis
into the homes of millions more.
757
00:51:45,185 --> 00:51:51,483
[B-Real] A lot of us on the West Coast
wanted to become guys like Run DMC.
758
00:51:52,275 --> 00:51:56,905
Hi, Yo, MTV Raps, bringing you new
and exciting hip hop grooves first.
759
00:51:56,988 --> 00:52:01,368
I wanna introduce y'all to one of my new
favorite groups, Cypress Hill.
760
00:52:01,451 --> 00:52:04,079
-What's up?
-What up? B-Real in the house.
761
00:52:04,162 --> 00:52:07,916
[B-Real] Anyone who was anyone in the game
got interviewed by Fab 5 Freddy,
762
00:52:07,999 --> 00:52:11,503
so we were stoked like a motherfucker.
We're like, "Damn, we're right here.
763
00:52:11,586 --> 00:52:17,259
We're with Fab 5 Freddy from Wild Style.
Get the fuck out of here."
764
00:52:18,426 --> 00:52:21,763
[Hager] A reporter from
The Source magazine told me,
765
00:52:21,847 --> 00:52:24,307
"You should put Cypress Hill
on the cover of High Times."
766
00:52:24,391 --> 00:52:28,061
I said, "Okay." [laughs]
It sold through the roof.
767
00:52:28,145 --> 00:52:30,105
So after that, it was like,
"Okay, who's next?"
768
00:52:30,188 --> 00:52:34,609
You know, Red Man, Wu-Tang, you know,
Snoop Dogg, they all sold like crazy.
769
00:52:39,406 --> 00:52:40,991
[B-Real]
Let me get a fresh joint for that.
770
00:52:41,074 --> 00:52:43,285
Paint on this baby is incredible.
771
00:52:43,368 --> 00:52:45,495
Looks like a Jolly Rancher.
772
00:52:45,579 --> 00:52:46,997
For real.
773
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:48,081
Ah.
774
00:52:48,957 --> 00:52:49,958
Lovely.
775
00:53:01,136 --> 00:53:03,889
-Ah, man, this is it, baby.
-Oh, yeah.
776
00:53:05,182 --> 00:53:09,352
The switch is alive and direct.
It goes up, down, to the side, side, side.
777
00:53:09,895 --> 00:53:14,065
Smoke starts happening,
you know, it gets pretty thick.
778
00:53:14,149 --> 00:53:15,984
-Cool, thanks, man.
-Word up.
779
00:53:16,067 --> 00:53:17,485
My dude.
780
00:53:17,569 --> 00:53:20,989
[Brathwaite]
The war on drugs was raging at the time
781
00:53:21,072 --> 00:53:24,367
when you guys made the decision
to do what you did.
782
00:53:24,451 --> 00:53:27,370
Talk about what was in your head,
what was happening.
783
00:53:27,454 --> 00:53:32,167
When you heard about the war on drugs,
and specifically if you were out there
784
00:53:32,250 --> 00:53:36,546
slanging, you know,
okay, there's a new enemy.
785
00:53:36,630 --> 00:53:40,550
It's not just the Bloods or Crips.
786
00:53:40,634 --> 00:53:44,262
Now it's the government. Right?
787
00:53:46,348 --> 00:53:50,518
When Jack Herer came out with the book
called The Emperor Wears No Clothes,
788
00:53:50,602 --> 00:53:52,854
it opened up all of our minds.
789
00:53:57,734 --> 00:54:02,948
We started seeing some of the stuff
that the government kept from the people,
790
00:54:03,031 --> 00:54:04,783
in terms of what cannabis can do.
791
00:54:05,700 --> 00:54:09,537
When we came across that,
we said, "Okay, well,
792
00:54:10,330 --> 00:54:12,916
you know, we could just be stoners
'cause that's who we are,
793
00:54:12,999 --> 00:54:17,963
but we also are activists
and we also do want to see this legal."
794
00:54:18,046 --> 00:54:21,091
So, the only way to do that is
to spread the education.
795
00:54:21,174 --> 00:54:23,969
So we took what we
learned from Jack Herer,
796
00:54:24,052 --> 00:54:29,057
and we put that out there
to counter some of the propaganda
797
00:54:29,140 --> 00:54:32,352
that had been coming out
since the '30s, '40s.
798
00:54:51,204 --> 00:54:55,250
In the music world, you know, when you hit
the mainstream as a cannabis group,
799
00:54:55,333 --> 00:55:02,048
it could be interesting
because there's a lot of opportunities
800
00:55:02,132 --> 00:55:04,009
that didn't come our way because of that,
801
00:55:04,092 --> 00:55:06,428
you know,
because of our stance on cannabis.
802
00:55:06,511 --> 00:55:10,098
You know, there's folks that maybe
won't work with you because,
803
00:55:10,181 --> 00:55:12,851
"Oh, they're promoting drugs to the kids!"
804
00:55:12,934 --> 00:55:14,894
Once again, Cypress Hill.
805
00:55:14,978 --> 00:55:16,980
[cheering and applause]
806
00:55:17,689 --> 00:55:18,940
Yo, New York City!
807
00:55:27,365 --> 00:55:29,826
[Brathwaite]
On Saturday Night Live in 1993,
808
00:55:29,909 --> 00:55:33,580
after being told they could not
smoke a joint on stage... [chuckles]
809
00:55:33,663 --> 00:55:37,375
...Cypress Hill lit up anyway
and got banned from the show forever.
810
00:55:39,586 --> 00:55:43,673
People just thought we had, you know,
a lot of balls to go out there and say,
811
00:55:43,757 --> 00:55:46,051
"We're doing this illegally
and we're good with it
812
00:55:46,134 --> 00:55:47,635
and we don't care who says what."
813
00:55:47,719 --> 00:55:49,888
It looked like we didn't know
what we were rapping about,
814
00:55:49,971 --> 00:55:53,433
like, we didn't have our history
or our knowledge about cannabis,
815
00:55:53,516 --> 00:55:54,434
but really, we did.
816
00:55:54,517 --> 00:55:56,436
I think we woke a lot of people up.
817
00:55:57,270 --> 00:56:01,608
There was an artist doing it before us,
but in terms of hip hop,
818
00:56:01,691 --> 00:56:05,487
it's Snoop Dogg, Red Man,
Method Man, and Cypress Hill.
819
00:56:05,570 --> 00:56:10,116
We are considered the forefathers
in cannabis culture in hip hop.
820
00:56:10,408 --> 00:56:12,619
[Snoop]
I think I was the extension of the greats,
821
00:56:12,702 --> 00:56:15,830
like Louis Armstrong and Cheech and Chong
822
00:56:15,914 --> 00:56:19,292
and the greats like
Willie Nelson and Bob Marley.
823
00:56:19,376 --> 00:56:23,630
I think I was like the extension
of what they were in they era,
824
00:56:23,713 --> 00:56:28,843
but even more up front because
I was a different breed than they was,
825
00:56:28,927 --> 00:56:30,345
but I come from their cloth.
826
00:56:30,428 --> 00:56:33,765
I'm a piece of each one
of them that I named,
827
00:56:33,848 --> 00:56:37,560
but I just was a different version,
like, a more up-front person.
828
00:56:37,644 --> 00:56:39,562
[Brathwaite]
That's amazing, Snoop. Listen, Snoop.
829
00:56:39,646 --> 00:56:42,649
-I just wanna have this moment with you--
-Well, you gotta hit this one time.
830
00:56:42,732 --> 00:56:45,985
-But you know I gotta do the interview.
-That's that Bubble Gum laced by Snoop.
831
00:56:46,069 --> 00:56:46,903
[coughing]
832
00:56:46,986 --> 00:56:49,322
-That's the sound I was looking for.
-God. Damn.
833
00:56:49,406 --> 00:56:53,284
♪ That's the sound of the man
Smoking what, Dogg? ♪
834
00:56:53,368 --> 00:56:54,744
Pass that shit to Vic.
835
00:56:55,286 --> 00:56:58,206
Good Lord. [laughs]
836
00:56:58,289 --> 00:57:00,750
What was my first experiences
with cannabis?
837
00:57:00,834 --> 00:57:07,132
I would have to say, um...
in the '70s, '77, 1977.
838
00:57:07,215 --> 00:57:09,175
One of my uncles,
I ain't gonna say his name,
839
00:57:09,259 --> 00:57:11,845
'cause I don't want the police
to come get the nigga, even though...
840
00:57:11,928 --> 00:57:13,596
it's over 40 years ago.
841
00:57:14,264 --> 00:57:17,934
I remember one day, he was like,
"Snoop, come in here."
842
00:57:18,017 --> 00:57:19,727
And I came in the living room.
843
00:57:19,811 --> 00:57:22,272
He had a Shlitz Malt Liquor Bull
on the table.
844
00:57:22,355 --> 00:57:25,775
He was like, "You wanna taste that beer?"
845
00:57:25,859 --> 00:57:28,486
I'm like, "Yeah!" So I drunk a little bit.
846
00:57:28,570 --> 00:57:29,696
Ah.
847
00:57:30,738 --> 00:57:32,240
And he grabbed the roach clip.
848
00:57:32,824 --> 00:57:34,117
He said, "Hit this."
849
00:57:37,662 --> 00:57:39,289
"Nah, inhale it, nephew."
850
00:57:41,374 --> 00:57:43,042
[imitates coughing]
851
00:57:43,126 --> 00:57:47,714
That was my first experience, 1977,
smoking some Colombian Red
852
00:57:47,797 --> 00:57:50,758
with my uncle, on a roach clip.
853
00:57:58,099 --> 00:58:00,059
[Brathwaite]
As Snoop became a household name,
854
00:58:00,143 --> 00:58:02,854
he brought cannabis culture
into the mainstream.
855
00:58:03,605 --> 00:58:07,650
He even helped Dr. Dre come up
with the title for his debut album.
856
00:58:10,862 --> 00:58:12,322
[chuckles]
857
00:58:15,450 --> 00:58:17,952
[Snoop] You know, when we seen
all that shit, that was cool.
858
00:58:18,036 --> 00:58:20,288
Dre didn't have no title for his album.
859
00:58:20,830 --> 00:58:23,208
I was smoking that shit and told cuz,
860
00:58:23,291 --> 00:58:26,753
"Nigga, the chronic is the shit
on the streets, and nigga,
861
00:58:26,836 --> 00:58:29,005
your album is gonna be
the shit on the streets.
862
00:58:29,088 --> 00:58:31,883
That's what you need to
name your album, cuz, The Chronic."
863
00:58:42,644 --> 00:58:44,395
[Brathwaite]
When The Chronic hit the streets,
864
00:58:44,479 --> 00:58:47,899
it reintroduced cannabis
to a whole new generation,
865
00:58:47,982 --> 00:58:51,152
and the plant's audience
grew wider than ever before.
866
00:58:52,111 --> 00:58:55,323
[Snoop] It's a plant that's from the earth
that was supposed to be here.
867
00:58:55,406 --> 00:58:59,077
When a nigga get high,
he low key chilling.
868
00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:00,828
I don't see no fighting.
869
00:59:00,912 --> 00:59:04,666
You could put a thousand motherfuckers
in one room that don't like each other,
870
00:59:05,917 --> 00:59:07,460
put some weed in the air,
871
00:59:07,544 --> 00:59:10,338
them niggas gonna be taking selfies
and doing all kind of cool shit.
872
00:59:10,421 --> 00:59:13,258
You could put four people in a room
that don't like each other,
873
00:59:13,341 --> 00:59:17,011
and one glass of fucking alcohol,
somebody gonna be fucking dead.
874
00:59:17,595 --> 00:59:18,888
You know what I'm saying?
875
00:59:20,890 --> 00:59:24,060
I'm saying some real shit. [laughs]
876
00:59:25,395 --> 00:59:28,690
Y'all all done been around somebody
that's drunk and somebody that's high.
877
00:59:29,190 --> 00:59:32,569
Somebody that's drunk, you be ready
to get rid of that motherfucker.
878
00:59:32,652 --> 00:59:36,197
"Man, get this nigga out of here."
But somebody that's high, they relaxed.
879
00:59:36,656 --> 00:59:38,783
You can sit them in the corner,
they gonna be all right.
880
00:59:49,711 --> 00:59:51,546
[Brathwaite]
Can you think of any weed songs
881
00:59:51,629 --> 00:59:53,131
that you, like, pop into your head?
882
00:59:53,214 --> 00:59:55,300
♪ DJ Quik, we smoke tha bomb bud ♪
883
00:59:55,383 --> 00:59:58,136
♪ Five on it
I gotta put five on it ♪
884
00:59:58,219 --> 01:00:00,972
♪ I'm a stoner, I'm a stoner
I'm a stoner ♪
885
01:00:01,055 --> 01:00:03,850
♪ 'Cause everything's better
When you're high ♪
886
01:00:03,933 --> 01:00:06,436
♪ Everything's better when you're high ♪
887
01:00:14,235 --> 01:00:17,947
The bad thing is that there's still
people rotting in jail for it.
888
01:00:18,531 --> 01:00:22,035
A man in Louisiana
has been sentenced to 13 years in prison
889
01:00:22,118 --> 01:00:27,290
for having possession of the equivalent
of two joints' worth of marijuana.
890
01:00:27,373 --> 01:00:31,002
This is a 49-year-old
African American father of seven.
891
01:00:31,085 --> 01:00:33,921
[reporter] Because he had two prior
civil possession convictions,
892
01:00:34,005 --> 01:00:35,840
the Orleans Parish
District Attorney's Office
893
01:00:35,923 --> 01:00:39,427
sought the mandatory minimum sentence
of 13 years and four months.
894
01:00:50,063 --> 01:00:52,565
[man] Everybody's heard of California's
three strikes law.
895
01:00:53,149 --> 01:00:55,568
Louisiana came up with its own system
896
01:00:55,652 --> 01:00:58,529
that basically punished
repeat felony behavior.
897
01:01:00,531 --> 01:01:05,536
We are definitely on the more extreme end
in terms of how we treat marijuana,
898
01:01:05,620 --> 01:01:09,791
both as the initial offense, but also
in the ability to enhance sentences
899
01:01:09,874 --> 01:01:13,211
and turn marijuana into a felony
and then use our...
900
01:01:13,711 --> 01:01:16,422
as far as I'm concerned,
draconian multiple bill statute,
901
01:01:16,506 --> 01:01:19,509
which is why you have stories
like Mr. Noble going to jail
902
01:01:19,592 --> 01:01:21,094
for 13-plus years for marijuana.
903
01:01:24,263 --> 01:01:25,515
[Brathwaite] The stage was set
904
01:01:25,598 --> 01:01:28,893
for Bernard Noble's long prison sentence
when Representative Boggs,
905
01:01:28,976 --> 01:01:34,190
from New Orleans, led the charge
for mandatory minimums back in the 1950s.
906
01:01:38,277 --> 01:01:40,238
Under multiple bill sentencing,
907
01:01:40,321 --> 01:01:43,908
convicts' sentences got longer
with repeat convictions.
908
01:01:47,120 --> 01:01:51,541
Because Bernard had non-violent
minor drug offenses in his past,
909
01:01:51,624 --> 01:01:55,962
his more recent conviction
led to an imposed minimum sentence.
910
01:01:57,463 --> 01:02:00,717
[woman] It's a newfound slavery,
you know...
911
01:02:00,800 --> 01:02:02,844
This state in particular,
912
01:02:02,927 --> 01:02:08,766
you know,
that's their way of enslaving our people.
913
01:02:10,143 --> 01:02:11,769
They have destroyed his life.
914
01:02:12,270 --> 01:02:15,314
My brother is about to be 60 years old.
915
01:02:16,232 --> 01:02:18,526
It's a lot that has passed him by.
916
01:02:19,902 --> 01:02:23,197
-He has lost contact with his children.
-Yeah.
917
01:02:23,281 --> 01:02:27,326
His girls are now teenagers.
They're all in high school.
918
01:02:27,410 --> 01:02:28,995
And he was close to those kids.
919
01:02:29,078 --> 01:02:30,621
He loved those babies.
920
01:02:30,705 --> 01:02:32,290
All of that is missing now.
921
01:02:32,373 --> 01:02:33,666
So, if he...
922
01:02:33,750 --> 01:02:38,296
when he comes home, he's gonna have
to try to rebuild and pick up the pieces.
923
01:02:38,379 --> 01:02:39,630
All over again.
924
01:02:39,714 --> 01:02:42,341
And 60 years old, trying to find a job...
925
01:02:42,425 --> 01:02:45,178
now you have a record,
you have that attached to you.
926
01:02:45,261 --> 01:02:46,554
-Right.
-It's gonna be hard.
927
01:02:46,637 --> 01:02:47,555
It's very hard.
928
01:02:58,316 --> 01:03:01,360
-[Lashawnda] The first judge gave him...
-[Gwynne] The judge gave him five years.
929
01:03:01,444 --> 01:03:04,280
...five years suspended sentence though.
930
01:03:05,490 --> 01:03:08,075
May 27th was supposed
to be his release date.
931
01:03:08,159 --> 01:03:10,787
-His release date.
-I bought him a Greyhound bus ticket.
932
01:03:10,870 --> 01:03:13,539
I talked to Bernard. I talked to the jail.
933
01:03:13,623 --> 01:03:18,211
And they informed me that that was
gonna be his release date of May 27.
934
01:03:18,836 --> 01:03:21,756
However, May 27 come,
935
01:03:21,839 --> 01:03:24,050
instead of them bringing him
to the Greyhound bus station,
936
01:03:24,133 --> 01:03:26,010
they brought him back to court,
937
01:03:26,093 --> 01:03:28,471
they re-sentenced him to 15 years
938
01:03:28,554 --> 01:03:31,724
because they said
they were gonna multi-bill him
939
01:03:31,808 --> 01:03:37,563
because the law of Louisiana states
you have to be out of trouble ten years
940
01:03:37,647 --> 01:03:38,898
in between charges.
941
01:03:38,981 --> 01:03:41,234
He had been out of trouble
nine years and six months.
942
01:03:43,277 --> 01:03:49,158
His previous charges had to be
mostly marijuana arrests for possession.
943
01:03:50,409 --> 01:03:54,205
It's not like he was a violent criminal
that you had to get off the street.
944
01:03:54,831 --> 01:03:59,043
The first judge was outraged,
but he said it was out of his hands
945
01:03:59,126 --> 01:04:04,048
because the D.A. Cannizzaro said
they had the power over the situation
946
01:04:04,131 --> 01:04:06,092
-and he couldn't change it.
-[Gwynne] Couldn't do nothing.
947
01:04:08,678 --> 01:04:11,764
[Bosworth] Everybody involved
on the district court,
948
01:04:11,848 --> 01:04:13,641
with the exception of the D.A.,
949
01:04:13,724 --> 01:04:16,894
including the judge, didn't want
Mr. Noble to get that sentence.
950
01:04:17,854 --> 01:04:22,024
The district attorney fought it and took
it to the Louisiana Supreme Court,
951
01:04:22,108 --> 01:04:26,779
and our Supreme Court said that you have
to give him the mandatory minimum.
952
01:04:26,863 --> 01:04:28,823
[Lashwandra]
He had been in jail ever since.
953
01:04:29,156 --> 01:04:31,617
-He never came back home.
-[Gwynne] Never came home.
954
01:04:31,701 --> 01:04:32,910
Eight years.
955
01:04:34,412 --> 01:04:36,539
-[man] That was eight years ago, Mom?
-Yes.
956
01:04:36,622 --> 01:04:37,874
He been in there that long?
957
01:04:37,957 --> 01:04:42,253
-Yes, since 2009, for a joint.
-I thought it was close to nine.
958
01:04:42,336 --> 01:04:43,212
Oh, my God.
959
01:04:43,296 --> 01:04:44,714
From a joint.
960
01:04:44,797 --> 01:04:47,258
-That's what it boiled down to.
-That's what it boiled down to.
961
01:04:47,341 --> 01:04:48,509
-A joint.
-[Brathwaite] One joint?
962
01:04:48,593 --> 01:04:49,635
One joint.
963
01:04:53,306 --> 01:04:54,724
[Lashwandra] You know what?
We've had a brother
964
01:04:54,807 --> 01:04:58,561
that passed away while he was in jail.
965
01:04:59,687 --> 01:05:02,690
I called them and I asked them,
966
01:05:02,773 --> 01:05:05,693
"Can y'all please let him
come to the funeral?"
967
01:05:05,776 --> 01:05:08,696
They told me, yes,
they would have a ride for him.
968
01:05:09,280 --> 01:05:13,784
I showed up to the jail to pick him up
for them to tell me that
969
01:05:13,868 --> 01:05:16,829
they didn't have a van
to bring him to Mississippi.
970
01:05:17,538 --> 01:05:19,624
He never even got a chance to see him.
971
01:05:21,250 --> 01:05:22,293
Yeah.
972
01:05:23,961 --> 01:05:25,254
It's a shame.
973
01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:26,881
That's crazy.
974
01:05:28,507 --> 01:05:33,512
There's so many levels of prejudice
even if it's just kind of subconscious,
975
01:05:33,596 --> 01:05:37,016
even if it's just systemic
as opposed to intentional.
976
01:05:37,099 --> 01:05:43,230
That has definitely created
a cycle of disproportionate abuse,
977
01:05:43,314 --> 01:05:46,734
in terms of the criminal justice system
coming down on African Americans.
978
01:05:46,817 --> 01:05:48,069
There's no question.
979
01:05:48,152 --> 01:05:51,822
[Brathwaite] So if somebody was walking
down Bourbon Street smoking a joint...
980
01:05:52,657 --> 01:05:56,077
[sighs] Well, the police would arrest him.
981
01:05:56,160 --> 01:05:57,912
Um... Well, they would detain him.
982
01:05:57,995 --> 01:06:00,665
They would have the option now
to either arrest or issue a citation.
983
01:06:00,748 --> 01:06:03,125
If you're African American,
you're more likely to be arrested.
984
01:06:03,209 --> 01:06:04,502
I see that in court all the time,
985
01:06:04,585 --> 01:06:06,963
in terms of who's in jail for marijuana
and who's been arrested.
986
01:06:07,463 --> 01:06:09,799
Uh... And the other issue is
the money that it brings in.
987
01:06:33,364 --> 01:06:36,033
[Bosworth] We have financially
incentivized incarceration so much,
988
01:06:36,117 --> 01:06:39,578
building a system where sheriffs become
dependent on high incarceration rates.
989
01:06:40,579 --> 01:06:44,917
The short offenses, the two, three, four,
five-year sentences go to local prisons.
990
01:06:45,501 --> 01:06:47,461
Those prisons operate on a per diem.
991
01:06:47,545 --> 01:06:52,049
They bill the states for every person
that they have in their facility per day.
992
01:06:57,888 --> 01:06:58,931
Over the past 20 years,
993
01:06:59,015 --> 01:07:04,270
they've expanded those jails in order to
bring in more inmates and make more money.
994
01:07:09,191 --> 01:07:11,110
They then employ more people.
995
01:07:11,193 --> 01:07:14,780
They become, in some parishes,
the largest employers in the parish.
996
01:07:14,864 --> 01:07:18,325
And their political clout
grows accordingly.
997
01:07:25,875 --> 01:07:26,876
Whoo!
998
01:07:47,688 --> 01:07:51,192
When my stepson, who I co-parented,
999
01:07:51,525 --> 01:07:55,863
was a young man, like a lot of young men,
he liked to smoke marijuana.
1000
01:07:56,655 --> 01:07:59,325
And... he was arrested for it.
1001
01:08:01,577 --> 01:08:07,333
That cycling early on into
the prison system set a young man,
1002
01:08:07,416 --> 01:08:10,294
who, at one time,
had wanted to be a massage therapist,
1003
01:08:10,377 --> 01:08:13,923
who wanted to be a healer,
onto a path that said,
1004
01:08:14,006 --> 01:08:16,759
"All you can do is
cycle in and out of prison.
1005
01:08:16,842 --> 01:08:19,178
All you can do is be a drug seller."
1006
01:08:19,261 --> 01:08:22,848
It was almost like
there was a conspiracy to say
1007
01:08:22,932 --> 01:08:27,978
that you can only live
within this very narrow confines.
1008
01:08:30,815 --> 01:08:36,320
After he got a record, he could not
really get any kind of job worth anything.
1009
01:08:36,403 --> 01:08:39,782
He continued sort of working
in an underground economy.
1010
01:08:39,865 --> 01:08:43,035
He was shot in April of 2005.
1011
01:08:43,119 --> 01:08:47,289
He was stabbed
not long after that in July.
1012
01:08:47,373 --> 01:08:51,377
And then, on August 19th of 2015,
1013
01:08:51,877 --> 01:08:55,881
he was murdered
in an act of drug war violence.
1014
01:08:55,965 --> 01:08:58,008
This was a kid who wasn't violent at all
1015
01:08:58,092 --> 01:09:02,221
and was actually trying
to protect his family, and so...
1016
01:09:03,848 --> 01:09:10,229
I'm aware that I do this work
standing in the blood... of my child.
1017
01:09:11,063 --> 01:09:15,818
But I also know
that my story is not unique.
1018
01:09:16,902 --> 01:09:20,447
I know that this is a story of men I love,
1019
01:09:21,031 --> 01:09:25,494
women I love, people in my community
to who I am connected.
1020
01:09:25,578 --> 01:09:27,830
I am of them, and they are of me.
1021
01:09:28,372 --> 01:09:33,169
I've watched
millions and millions of people just...
1022
01:09:34,420 --> 01:09:39,133
thrown away, thrown into a prison system,
said that you don't count,
1023
01:09:39,216 --> 01:09:40,759
said that you don't matter.
1024
01:09:40,843 --> 01:09:43,470
To me, every life has value.
1025
01:09:49,602 --> 01:09:53,022
[man] Young black men
are the most incarcerated people
1026
01:09:53,105 --> 01:09:55,357
in the history of the world.
1027
01:10:00,154 --> 01:10:07,077
Prisons are like dumping grounds
for people who society regards as garbage.
1028
01:10:10,706 --> 01:10:16,795
As a prosecutor, one of my tasks
was prosecuting drug crimes...
1029
01:10:18,214 --> 01:10:23,469
including the most frequently
prosecuted drug crime, marijuana.
1030
01:10:25,512 --> 01:10:28,265
I went after,
like every other prosecutor did,
1031
01:10:28,349 --> 01:10:33,187
a lot of black people
for using marijuana and selling marijuana.
1032
01:10:35,272 --> 01:10:36,649
But here's the problem.
1033
01:10:36,732 --> 01:10:42,571
If you go to a criminal court in DC,
then, that was in the 1990s,
1034
01:10:43,322 --> 01:10:48,035
and now, you would think that
white people don't commit crimes.
1035
01:10:49,870 --> 01:10:55,000
White people are about 40% the population
of the District of Columbia,
1036
01:10:55,084 --> 01:10:58,295
but they are not present
in the criminal court.
1037
01:10:59,129 --> 01:11:02,508
And it took me too long to realize this,
but at the end of the day,
1038
01:11:02,591 --> 01:11:08,764
I understood I didn't go to Harvard
Law School to put black people in prison.
1039
01:11:10,391 --> 01:11:13,102
And that was the work that I was doing.
1040
01:11:13,852 --> 01:11:19,358
My presence as a black prosecutor
was supposed to send a message.
1041
01:11:21,068 --> 01:11:24,822
I know you don't see anybody
but black people being prosecuted,
1042
01:11:25,406 --> 01:11:27,074
young black men like me.
1043
01:11:27,741 --> 01:11:28,993
But it's all good.
1044
01:11:29,743 --> 01:11:30,911
Everything's cool.
1045
01:11:33,914 --> 01:11:34,873
Go to sleep.
1046
01:12:07,072 --> 01:12:12,661
I can imagine that it sucks
to be sitting in prison for a weed charge
1047
01:12:12,745 --> 01:12:15,622
and seeing people make
so much money off of it.
1048
01:12:15,706 --> 01:12:17,708
I'd be pissed. I'm pissed for them.
1049
01:12:17,791 --> 01:12:20,169
I got five years,
because it was a mandatory minimum.
1050
01:12:20,252 --> 01:12:21,837
The judge couldn't go under that.
1051
01:12:21,920 --> 01:12:26,425
Now I'm a two-time felon.
I get one more, I'm gone for 25 years.
1052
01:12:26,508 --> 01:12:29,636
You have, you know,
laws changing state by state,
1053
01:12:29,720 --> 01:12:32,264
but guys like me still can't participate
1054
01:12:32,348 --> 01:12:36,643
because it's still federally illegal
to be a part of anything.
1055
01:12:36,727 --> 01:12:40,147
When you get into a legal
or regulated cannabis industry,
1056
01:12:40,230 --> 01:12:41,732
you have a crazy background check.
1057
01:12:41,815 --> 01:12:44,651
I was fortunate enough to talk my way out
of every situation I've ever had
1058
01:12:44,735 --> 01:12:46,653
and not go to jail.
You know what I'm saying?
1059
01:12:46,737 --> 01:12:48,655
That allowed me to get up the ladder,
1060
01:12:48,739 --> 01:12:51,283
but a lot of cats in the street
that have the knowledge of the herb
1061
01:12:51,367 --> 01:12:54,328
and how to move the herb, how to grow it,
they're not allowed to be in this game.
1062
01:12:54,411 --> 01:12:59,625
I think because they saw
that there was a positive power in it,
1063
01:12:59,708 --> 01:13:03,545
even now, because, you know, now
it can make money now legally.
1064
01:13:03,629 --> 01:13:06,256
You know what I'm saying?
Now they're trying to keep us
1065
01:13:06,340 --> 01:13:10,469
from having what was
originally ours in the first place.
1066
01:13:15,849 --> 01:13:18,727
[woman] The number of Americans
in favor of legalizing marijuana
1067
01:13:18,811 --> 01:13:20,020
has reached a new high.
1068
01:13:20,104 --> 01:13:23,482
Business is booming in states
where legalization has already happened.
1069
01:13:23,565 --> 01:13:27,694
Legal marijuana is projected to be
a seven-billion dollar industry.
1070
01:13:30,406 --> 01:13:32,616
♪ A friend of weed ♪
1071
01:13:33,325 --> 01:13:36,662
♪ Is a friend indeed ♪
1072
01:13:38,872 --> 01:13:44,670
♪ So if you get that weed
You can hang with me ♪
1073
01:13:44,753 --> 01:13:47,881
[man] I moved here to Portland, Oregon
about five years ago.
1074
01:13:48,841 --> 01:13:53,637
Quit my engineering job and decided
to grow my business from my garage.
1075
01:13:55,222 --> 01:13:57,099
My name is Jesce Horton.
1076
01:13:57,182 --> 01:14:02,896
I'm a cannabis cultivator,
retailer, activist, entrepreneur.
1077
01:14:03,439 --> 01:14:05,774
First and foremost,
I'm a cannabis connoisseur.
1078
01:14:05,858 --> 01:14:09,611
I'm a smoker,
and I care about the consistency,
1079
01:14:09,695 --> 01:14:13,240
the look, the taste,
everything. That really matters.
1080
01:14:13,323 --> 01:14:15,868
That's part of the reason why
I got into the industry,
1081
01:14:15,951 --> 01:14:18,078
was because I really love
cannabis flowers.
1082
01:14:18,829 --> 01:14:20,330
This is the picture of health.
1083
01:14:20,414 --> 01:14:23,750
You see them accepting as much light
as they possibly can
1084
01:14:23,834 --> 01:14:27,546
to generate that photosynthesis
to create what you want, right,
1085
01:14:27,629 --> 01:14:28,839
in that bud, in that grow.
1086
01:14:34,303 --> 01:14:38,390
To be a good cultivator, you have to have
the passion, the dedication.
1087
01:14:38,891 --> 01:14:42,519
You have to care about every variable
in that cultivation room.
1088
01:14:42,603 --> 01:14:43,896
You can never slip.
1089
01:14:44,980 --> 01:14:47,900
Each and every one of these flowers
is gonna be different.
1090
01:14:47,983 --> 01:14:52,196
Maybe only one of these, maybe none of
these strains are gonna work out for us.
1091
01:14:52,779 --> 01:14:55,866
Each and every day, we've got to try
to get things crossed off the list.
1092
01:14:56,325 --> 01:14:59,495
No days off at all. No days off.
1093
01:15:00,120 --> 01:15:01,538
Miller is my partner.
1094
01:15:01,622 --> 01:15:04,082
We went to school together,
engineering school.
1095
01:15:04,583 --> 01:15:07,961
We used to smoke a lot of weed together.
And now we get to grow.
1096
01:15:08,670 --> 01:15:12,216
I wanted to kind of pull other people in,
because the most important thing
1097
01:15:12,299 --> 01:15:16,970
that I think you can do for black people
is us being able to see someone else
1098
01:15:17,054 --> 01:15:18,430
that we know doing it.
1099
01:15:21,058 --> 01:15:23,977
[Brathwaite] Jesce is one of a small
percentage of black entrepreneurs
1100
01:15:24,061 --> 01:15:26,104
diving into the cannabis industry,
1101
01:15:26,188 --> 01:15:30,359
trying to erase the decades-old stigma
associated with its past.
1102
01:15:30,943 --> 01:15:32,903
You got rappers who was
rapping about the weed.
1103
01:15:32,986 --> 01:15:34,404
Now they become a CEO.
1104
01:15:35,239 --> 01:15:37,824
They owning businesses.
They got tech plays.
1105
01:15:37,908 --> 01:15:41,411
They got shit in different states,
and it's becoming a business for them,
1106
01:15:41,495 --> 01:15:44,957
because they stood on it so long
to where people relied on them.
1107
01:15:45,040 --> 01:15:49,419
So when it became legal, their face
and their brand was one of the brands
1108
01:15:49,503 --> 01:15:52,506
and one of the faces that could actually
take this business to another level.
1109
01:15:54,132 --> 01:15:56,510
[announcer]
Cliff Robinson excited about it.
1110
01:15:56,760 --> 01:15:58,804
[Robinson] Cannabis has always
been a part of my life.
1111
01:15:58,887 --> 01:16:00,097
Let me just put that out there.
1112
01:16:00,180 --> 01:16:04,726
My stepfather used it to supplement
the family's income,
1113
01:16:04,810 --> 01:16:06,103
because we had a mixed family.
1114
01:16:06,186 --> 01:16:09,982
So he used that as a way
to help us get by.
1115
01:16:10,607 --> 01:16:11,984
[announcer] Uncle Cliffy.
1116
01:16:12,067 --> 01:16:15,862
This Cliff Robinson could easily
have not grown to be Uncle Cliffy,
1117
01:16:15,946 --> 01:16:22,411
eighteen-year NBA career,
because I was arrested at a young age,
1118
01:16:22,494 --> 01:16:25,122
arrested for a nickel bag of cannabis.
1119
01:16:25,205 --> 01:16:27,165
And that could have easily...
1120
01:16:27,249 --> 01:16:29,334
My career could have
easily took a different direction.
1121
01:16:35,382 --> 01:16:37,926
[Brathwaite]
Former NBA player Cliff Robinson
1122
01:16:38,010 --> 01:16:39,761
with his partners Johnny Green
1123
01:16:39,845 --> 01:16:41,430
and Sid from Pistil Point,
1124
01:16:41,513 --> 01:16:45,892
have developed a line of sports-related
cannabis products called Uncle Cliffy.
1125
01:16:50,647 --> 01:16:52,065
[Gupta] These are mother plants.
1126
01:16:52,524 --> 01:16:55,068
These mother plants represent
every single one of the genetics
1127
01:16:55,152 --> 01:16:57,738
that we currently are housing
at Pistil Point.
1128
01:16:57,821 --> 01:16:59,448
We got a couple different OG.
1129
01:16:59,531 --> 01:17:01,241
These are all Mendo Breaths over here.
1130
01:17:01,325 --> 01:17:04,286
This is called Piña.
This is a pineapple strain.
1131
01:17:04,369 --> 01:17:05,829
Gorilla Glue number four.
1132
01:17:05,912 --> 01:17:07,664
Orange Cookies on the right side.
1133
01:17:07,748 --> 01:17:08,957
This is a Death Star.
1134
01:17:09,041 --> 01:17:11,752
This batch alone,
when I'm looking at these tables,
1135
01:17:11,835 --> 01:17:15,422
they're gonna pull about $50,000
out of just this area over here.
1136
01:17:15,505 --> 01:17:18,258
Everybody smokes here.
Pretty much everybody smokes here,
1137
01:17:18,342 --> 01:17:21,261
and there should be no negative stigma,
you would think.
1138
01:17:21,345 --> 01:17:23,847
But I always caught one
from the fans here in Portland.
1139
01:17:23,930 --> 01:17:25,223
I didn't understand that.
1140
01:17:27,684 --> 01:17:29,603
You know, it was always heavily reported.
1141
01:17:35,776 --> 01:17:37,611
That negative stigma has been something
1142
01:17:37,694 --> 01:17:40,489
that I've had to deal with
throughout my career.
1143
01:17:40,572 --> 01:17:42,741
[Green] People wouldn't talk
about you being an all-star.
1144
01:17:42,824 --> 01:17:45,619
They wouldn't talk to you
about being a six man of the year.
1145
01:17:45,702 --> 01:17:48,872
They would talk about
how you consumed cannabis,
1146
01:17:48,955 --> 01:17:52,292
you know, as if somehow
that tainted your career to the point
1147
01:17:52,376 --> 01:17:54,419
that that's what they
should remember you for.
1148
01:17:54,503 --> 01:17:57,381
Well, that perceived
negative perception is
1149
01:17:57,464 --> 01:18:00,967
a big reason why
I got involved in the cannabis space.
1150
01:18:03,929 --> 01:18:08,100
[Horton] When you look at the monumental
role that the war on drugs played
1151
01:18:08,183 --> 01:18:13,271
in mass incarceration, about half
of those arrests were from cannabis.
1152
01:18:13,939 --> 01:18:18,443
I got arrested three times,
and each time it was less than two grams.
1153
01:18:18,527 --> 01:18:20,487
One time I got arrested for a seed.
1154
01:18:21,863 --> 01:18:25,450
It's not even just going to prison
that hurts people's lives.
1155
01:18:25,534 --> 01:18:28,286
It's all the negative things
and the repercussions
1156
01:18:28,370 --> 01:18:30,580
that they have to deal with afterwards.
1157
01:18:31,707 --> 01:18:35,335
I lost my college scholarship,
had to drop out of school.
1158
01:18:35,419 --> 01:18:38,630
Got lucky enough to get back
into school and graduate.
1159
01:18:38,714 --> 01:18:41,883
But those charges followed me
for a long time
1160
01:18:41,967 --> 01:18:44,511
and kind of got in the way
of a lot of opportunities.
1161
01:18:45,971 --> 01:18:48,849
A lot of us didn't have to start off
in that negative position.
1162
01:18:52,436 --> 01:18:54,229
I definitely think about my father.
1163
01:18:54,646 --> 01:18:58,233
He ended up going to prison
for cannabis distribution
1164
01:18:58,316 --> 01:19:03,155
at a time right after he was accepted to
one of the top colleges in North Carolina.
1165
01:19:03,238 --> 01:19:05,949
Ended up spending seven years in prison
1166
01:19:06,825 --> 01:19:09,995
and was able to get out
and finally get his master's degree,
1167
01:19:10,078 --> 01:19:13,165
but was only able to essentially
get a job, a low-level job,
1168
01:19:13,248 --> 01:19:16,501
a janitor even with those degrees.
1169
01:19:16,585 --> 01:19:18,420
He was able to work up, right,
1170
01:19:18,503 --> 01:19:23,675
for 35 years and retire
at a really high position at his company,
1171
01:19:23,759 --> 01:19:27,679
but what I think about is what if
he didn't have to start off as a janitor.
1172
01:19:29,681 --> 01:19:32,851
It takes two generations to get to
where this family would have gotten
1173
01:19:32,934 --> 01:19:34,436
in one generation.
1174
01:19:35,187 --> 01:19:38,648
Those types of things
essentially stifle families
1175
01:19:38,732 --> 01:19:40,859
and stifle us as a community as a whole.
1176
01:19:43,278 --> 01:19:47,115
One of the most frustrating things
about working on marijuana reform
1177
01:19:47,783 --> 01:19:49,868
is how much people think it's a joke.
1178
01:19:49,951 --> 01:19:51,661
It has never been a joke.
1179
01:19:51,745 --> 01:19:54,956
You know, when we talk
about marijuana reform,
1180
01:19:55,040 --> 01:19:59,294
one of the biggest pushbacks we get
from academics and pseudo-doctors
1181
01:19:59,377 --> 01:20:01,421
is that marijuana is a gateway drug.
1182
01:20:02,714 --> 01:20:04,424
None of the science says that.
1183
01:20:04,883 --> 01:20:09,095
But what science and research
has consistently showed us
1184
01:20:09,179 --> 01:20:12,182
is that marijuana
is a gateway to deportation.
1185
01:20:12,265 --> 01:20:14,267
It is a gateway to eviction.
1186
01:20:14,351 --> 01:20:17,979
It is-- If eviction,
it is a gateway to homelessness.
1187
01:20:18,063 --> 01:20:20,482
It is a gateway
to getting your kids taken away,
1188
01:20:20,565 --> 01:20:25,946
and it is a gateway to the generations
of destabilization and decimation
1189
01:20:26,029 --> 01:20:28,198
that we have seen in the United States.
1190
01:20:28,698 --> 01:20:34,037
So, before we talk
about tax structures and regulatory models
1191
01:20:34,120 --> 01:20:38,250
and who should have licenses and
should the government control it or not,
1192
01:20:38,333 --> 01:20:42,504
we need to have a conversation about
how we're going to get out of this mess,
1193
01:20:42,587 --> 01:20:45,549
because the damage has been comprehensive.
1194
01:20:45,632 --> 01:20:50,053
And the solution has to be
even more comprehensive than the damage.
1195
01:20:51,930 --> 01:20:54,474
[woman] Breaking news in
the Trayvon Martin shooting case tonight.
1196
01:20:54,558 --> 01:20:58,144
Evidence just released shows
Martin had marijuana in his system.
1197
01:20:58,228 --> 01:21:05,110
The judge allows in evidence that Trayvon
Martin did have marijuana in his system
1198
01:21:05,193 --> 01:21:07,529
at the time he died.
1199
01:21:07,612 --> 01:21:09,739
What difference, if any, does that make?
1200
01:21:09,823 --> 01:21:11,992
It makes a big deal of difference.
If he was high?
1201
01:21:12,075 --> 01:21:16,037
Isn't it true that when you smoke pot,
you just want to lay on the sofa and eat?
1202
01:21:17,831 --> 01:21:20,625
♪ Southern trees ♪
1203
01:21:24,754 --> 01:21:28,300
♪ Bearing strange fruit ♪
1204
01:21:32,470 --> 01:21:35,015
♪ Blood on the leaves ♪
1205
01:21:39,185 --> 01:21:41,646
♪ And blood at the roots ♪
1206
01:21:42,939 --> 01:21:47,861
[Hart] George Zimmerman, his main defense
was he believed that Trayvon Martin
1207
01:21:47,944 --> 01:21:50,530
was intoxicated on cannabis,
1208
01:21:50,614 --> 01:21:54,576
and so therefore was out of his mind
and came at him and attacked him.
1209
01:21:59,247 --> 01:22:03,335
♪ Strange fruit hanging ♪
1210
01:22:05,420 --> 01:22:08,006
♪ From the poplar trees ♪
1211
01:22:08,840 --> 01:22:10,800
[Hart] When you look
at the levels of cannabis
1212
01:22:10,884 --> 01:22:12,677
that was in Trayvon Martin's system,
1213
01:22:12,761 --> 01:22:15,430
he could not possibly
have been intoxicated,
1214
01:22:15,513 --> 01:22:17,599
because the levels were so low.
1215
01:22:17,682 --> 01:22:21,853
They were, in fact, lower than the levels
of people in our studies
1216
01:22:21,937 --> 01:22:25,065
who hadn't received cannabis
on several days.
1217
01:22:26,274 --> 01:22:27,901
But it didn't matter.
1218
01:22:27,984 --> 01:22:32,113
All his defense team had to do was
to present it to the jury
1219
01:22:32,197 --> 01:22:35,992
who has consumed drug misinformation.
1220
01:22:36,493 --> 01:22:40,997
And so they believe that cannabis can
make you so crazy that you attack people.
1221
01:22:46,711 --> 01:22:49,422
[woman] The judge ruled today that jurors
will be allowed to hear that
1222
01:22:49,506 --> 01:22:54,260
Philando Castile had THC in his system
at the time of the shooting.
1223
01:22:54,344 --> 01:22:57,514
[man] Authorities said Bland
hung herself in her jail cell.
1224
01:22:57,597 --> 01:22:59,516
They say she had marijuana in her system.
1225
01:22:59,599 --> 01:23:02,519
[man 2] We know now he did have
marijuana in his system.
1226
01:23:02,602 --> 01:23:05,397
And we've had stories, remember,
of people going berserk on marijuana
1227
01:23:05,480 --> 01:23:06,606
and killing people.
1228
01:23:06,690 --> 01:23:08,608
It's more dangerous than people think.
1229
01:23:09,484 --> 01:23:11,027
[man 3] Shortly after the funeral ended,
1230
01:23:11,111 --> 01:23:14,155
one of several search warrants
became public record.
1231
01:23:14,239 --> 01:23:17,450
The list of some of the items seized
from Botham Jean's apartment
1232
01:23:17,534 --> 01:23:19,452
included a small amount of marijuana.
1233
01:23:22,372 --> 01:23:29,337
♪ For the leaves ♪
1234
01:23:34,092 --> 01:23:35,927
♪ To drop... ♪
1235
01:23:36,011 --> 01:23:37,887
[woman] Even when they are killed,
1236
01:23:37,971 --> 01:23:41,808
a mere mention of marijuana
is used as a justification
1237
01:23:41,891 --> 01:23:44,144
for the blood in the streets.
1238
01:23:49,357 --> 01:23:53,403
♪ And ♪
1239
01:23:53,486 --> 01:23:59,701
♪ Bitter ♪
1240
01:24:01,661 --> 01:24:07,584
♪ Crop ♪
1241
01:24:24,517 --> 01:24:26,978
[bell ringing]
1242
01:24:28,563 --> 01:24:31,232
[Brathwaite] Even people who once
took a stand against cannabis
1243
01:24:31,316 --> 01:24:35,528
for medical or recreational use
are now changing their minds about it.
1244
01:24:36,112 --> 01:24:39,783
It's time for the federal government
to take another look at this.
1245
01:24:39,866 --> 01:24:42,702
And I think de-scheduling this drug,
1246
01:24:42,786 --> 01:24:46,664
allowing for the research would be
very helpful to the American people.
1247
01:24:52,420 --> 01:24:54,839
[man] It just seems
that, as it pertains to America,
1248
01:24:54,923 --> 01:24:59,969
as soon as white men want to do something,
they change the laws and it's okay.
1249
01:25:04,557 --> 01:25:07,060
[man]
CannaCon is one of the nation's largest
1250
01:25:07,143 --> 01:25:08,770
business-to-business cannabis shows.
1251
01:25:08,853 --> 01:25:15,485
It went from this black market industry
to a real industry where real millionaires
1252
01:25:15,568 --> 01:25:17,904
and multimillionaires are investing.
1253
01:25:19,364 --> 01:25:24,285
Howl's Tincture, it's a cannabis-infused
organic avocado oil.
1254
01:25:24,369 --> 01:25:26,788
White Widows are my favorites.
It's very complex.
1255
01:25:26,871 --> 01:25:32,502
I was in a 75,000-square-foot facility
just last week in Denver.
1256
01:25:33,294 --> 01:25:35,255
That ain't a black market run.
1257
01:25:35,338 --> 01:25:37,006
She has bad anxiety.
1258
01:25:37,090 --> 01:25:37,966
CBD will help.
1259
01:25:38,049 --> 01:25:41,928
We don't want to make any promises,
but studies have shown that it will help
1260
01:25:42,011 --> 01:25:45,974
reduce anxiety,
inflammation, irritation, itch,
1261
01:25:46,057 --> 01:25:47,851
and also support bone growth.
1262
01:25:47,934 --> 01:25:50,854
[man] We're here to infiltrate
the edible side
1263
01:25:50,937 --> 01:25:54,149
and try to convert really
from a very basic chocolate,
1264
01:25:54,232 --> 01:25:56,776
a non-refined chocolate,
to a gourmet couverture.
1265
01:25:57,360 --> 01:26:01,531
We have topical creams,
oils, and essences.
1266
01:26:01,614 --> 01:26:03,116
It makes your skin glow.
1267
01:26:03,199 --> 01:26:06,119
-Cannabis is the new thing.
-It's new.
1268
01:26:06,202 --> 01:26:07,662
[both] It's new. It's new.
1269
01:26:07,745 --> 01:26:09,706
-It's the same old weed.
-[laughs]
1270
01:26:11,541 --> 01:26:14,627
When it relates to the influx of capital
into the cannabis industry,
1271
01:26:14,711 --> 01:26:18,590
a lot of people of color are having
a hard time accessing this capital.
1272
01:26:18,673 --> 01:26:21,217
And, you know,
those are for obvious reasons.
1273
01:26:21,718 --> 01:26:23,678
Most of the time, it's private equity,
1274
01:26:23,761 --> 01:26:26,014
giving money to people
that they're most comfortable with.
1275
01:26:26,681 --> 01:26:30,268
I mean, a young black dude who's been
arrested a number of times for cannabis,
1276
01:26:30,351 --> 01:26:32,437
even though I have the background,
1277
01:26:32,520 --> 01:26:35,148
even though I have the knowledge,
even though I have the credentials,
1278
01:26:35,231 --> 01:26:38,484
maybe not as easy for them
to give me that million dollars
1279
01:26:38,568 --> 01:26:41,321
as it is for them to give someone
that they identify with more.
1280
01:26:41,404 --> 01:26:46,034
I actually got a phone call from my uncle
who worked for the company previously.
1281
01:26:46,117 --> 01:26:48,786
He's like, "Hey, we need
a new face for the industry.
1282
01:26:48,870 --> 01:26:54,417
We need somebody who's a little younger,
interested in it," and offered me the job.
1283
01:26:55,460 --> 01:27:01,174
[Bandele] Black people own
fewer than 1% of the dispensaries.
1284
01:27:02,342 --> 01:27:08,848
This mirrors how black people are treated
in most phases of the marketplace, right?
1285
01:27:08,932 --> 01:27:13,770
The contradiction here
is that we were in the marketplace,
1286
01:27:13,853 --> 01:27:17,523
just underground and incarcerated.
1287
01:27:18,608 --> 01:27:21,361
This is one of the questions
we're gonna have to reckon with.
1288
01:27:21,444 --> 01:27:23,905
[Smart] It costs us a hundred grand a year
for prisoners, right?
1289
01:27:24,572 --> 01:27:26,699
A hundred thousand dollars a year
for prisoners.
1290
01:27:26,783 --> 01:27:28,701
[Brathwaite]
Don't you think those pioneers,
1291
01:27:28,785 --> 01:27:31,246
I mean, the people who used to grow,
sell weed, and got busted,
1292
01:27:31,329 --> 01:27:34,624
should have a chance to make some money
in this new expanding industry?
1293
01:27:34,707 --> 01:27:37,710
Yeah. You know, that's a tough one though
because a lot of those guys
1294
01:27:37,794 --> 01:27:39,671
would be bad businessmen, right?
1295
01:27:39,754 --> 01:27:43,007
And so, we can't say, "Hey, just because
you grew in your garage,
1296
01:27:43,091 --> 01:27:47,595
let's, like, give you this license
because we want you to do it well."
1297
01:27:47,679 --> 01:27:51,140
And so we still have to be very cautious
of that, because at the end of the day,
1298
01:27:51,224 --> 01:27:52,475
this still is an industry.
1299
01:27:52,558 --> 01:27:55,645
So it still has to be ran
by business people, not by potheads.
1300
01:27:55,728 --> 01:27:58,773
Those guys, most of them
are potheads, right?
1301
01:27:59,941 --> 01:28:01,567
It's more professional.
1302
01:28:01,651 --> 01:28:04,904
I took my 80-year-old dad to a dispensary.
He loved it.
1303
01:28:04,988 --> 01:28:06,656
He couldn't believe
what he was looking at.
1304
01:28:06,739 --> 01:28:09,867
I would have never
have taken him to my old guy. [laughs]
1305
01:28:09,951 --> 01:28:12,996
We love to have the bags open
and invite people to not only see them,
1306
01:28:13,079 --> 01:28:14,205
but get their hands in them.
1307
01:28:14,289 --> 01:28:17,375
You can definitely see,
even just from on-camera,
1308
01:28:17,458 --> 01:28:20,253
the difference between them
as you go down the line.
1309
01:28:21,629 --> 01:28:24,590
When the first cultivators
were coming up in New York state,
1310
01:28:24,674 --> 01:28:27,552
we had to have like 200,000 liquid cash.
1311
01:28:27,635 --> 01:28:30,596
Nobody in the ghetto
has 200,000 liquid cash.
1312
01:28:30,680 --> 01:28:33,808
That's somebody that's already rich
and has already made it.
1313
01:28:33,891 --> 01:28:37,145
And they're the ones who are allowed
to even apply for a license.
1314
01:28:37,228 --> 01:28:39,731
This industry is growing,
and it's growing fast.
1315
01:28:39,814 --> 01:28:41,941
And doors of opportunity are shutting.
1316
01:28:42,025 --> 01:28:45,903
We need to move this quickly,
ensuring that people of color,
1317
01:28:45,987 --> 01:28:50,199
especially people that have been targeted
by the war on drugs, are in the industry,
1318
01:28:50,283 --> 01:28:52,118
are successful in the industry,
1319
01:28:52,201 --> 01:28:54,746
and that the communities are benefitting
from the industry.
1320
01:28:54,829 --> 01:28:57,373
That also means social justice, of course,
1321
01:28:57,457 --> 01:29:00,710
looking at people
who are still in prison for cannabis use,
1322
01:29:00,793 --> 01:29:04,172
looking at people who are still
being arrested at disproportionate rates
1323
01:29:04,255 --> 01:29:08,176
and figuring out ways to lobby
for sensible laws to help to reduce that.
1324
01:29:11,095 --> 01:29:14,140
[Brathwaite] Some cities had begun steps
to correct the past
1325
01:29:14,223 --> 01:29:17,101
by expunging records
and freeing prisoners.
1326
01:29:17,185 --> 01:29:19,937
But the country still has
a long way to go.
1327
01:29:25,651 --> 01:29:27,653
[Killer Mike] Marijuana gives
African American people
1328
01:29:27,737 --> 01:29:29,197
the greatest opportunity
1329
01:29:29,280 --> 01:29:31,366
to have a jump-start on wealth
in this country,
1330
01:29:31,449 --> 01:29:33,618
probably since
the de-prohibition of alcohol,
1331
01:29:33,701 --> 01:29:35,536
which we weren't allowed to be in.
1332
01:29:36,079 --> 01:29:40,792
Take, for instance, if you have two black
marijuana growers dispensing your brands
1333
01:29:40,875 --> 01:29:42,377
that become Jack Daniels.
1334
01:29:42,960 --> 01:29:46,005
You're looking at a hundred years of jobs
for the greater community,
1335
01:29:46,089 --> 01:29:47,924
not just your community at that point.
1336
01:29:48,007 --> 01:29:50,676
But if you don't think like that,
if you don't think that maturely,
1337
01:29:50,760 --> 01:29:53,221
even on the other side of marijuana,
you just remain a customer.
1338
01:29:53,304 --> 01:29:55,723
And that-- You know,
I don't give a fuck how legal it gets.
1339
01:29:55,807 --> 01:29:58,184
If that's all we get out
of this shit, we failed.
1340
01:29:58,267 --> 01:30:02,480
Now that it's becoming legal, I think
it's only fair that we be a part of it.
1341
01:30:03,689 --> 01:30:07,652
Something that I'm very concerned about
and hope to really be a voice for
1342
01:30:07,735 --> 01:30:11,823
is those people who have fed their
families over the years by taking a risk,
1343
01:30:12,532 --> 01:30:16,244
but are now being perhaps muscled out
because they don't necessarily understand
1344
01:30:16,327 --> 01:30:20,373
how to go and register themselves
to be legal farmers and growers
1345
01:30:20,456 --> 01:30:21,999
and sellers of the plant.
1346
01:30:22,917 --> 01:30:27,422
This moment right here is not about
people coming to the table and saying,
1347
01:30:27,505 --> 01:30:28,673
"Oops, my bad.
1348
01:30:29,507 --> 01:30:33,094
We were wrong.
Let's all make money on it now."
1349
01:30:33,177 --> 01:30:34,720
You can't do that.
1350
01:30:34,804 --> 01:30:39,183
When you have knocked out
two, three, four, five generations
1351
01:30:39,934 --> 01:30:41,936
of folks in the United States.
1352
01:30:42,019 --> 01:30:48,067
You can't just come to the table
and decide that now we're all good.
1353
01:30:48,151 --> 01:30:49,569
You can't do that.
1354
01:30:49,652 --> 01:30:52,363
You can't say,
"Well, I didn't write the laws,
1355
01:30:52,989 --> 01:30:57,743
so I don't have any responsibility
to reinvest in the communities."
1356
01:30:57,827 --> 01:31:01,038
Because news flash, we are owed.
1357
01:31:01,873 --> 01:31:05,001
You cannot regulate without reparations.
1358
01:31:05,084 --> 01:31:07,211
And yes, I said reparations.
1359
01:31:07,837 --> 01:31:11,048
I would love to get those reparations
for a 54-year drug war.
1360
01:31:11,132 --> 01:31:16,804
I would love for marijuana licenses
to have to be 50% African American
1361
01:31:16,888 --> 01:31:19,223
and Mexican American.
1362
01:31:19,307 --> 01:31:20,433
I would fucking love that,
1363
01:31:20,516 --> 01:31:25,730
because that way my community,
instead of begging for help via subsidies,
1364
01:31:25,813 --> 01:31:29,442
gets to assert itself in
leadership positions in terms of business.
1365
01:31:29,525 --> 01:31:32,612
And not only that, then you get
to buy and pay for your own politicians.
1366
01:31:34,071 --> 01:31:37,950
You know, the fact that none
of the presidents did the right thing--
1367
01:31:38,034 --> 01:31:39,535
Nixon was wrong for that.
1368
01:31:39,619 --> 01:31:44,415
I'm a Carter fan, but he was wrong in
his support of the drug war as was Reagan.
1369
01:31:45,208 --> 01:31:47,919
Later Bill Clinton,
with a bill written by Joe Biden.
1370
01:31:48,002 --> 01:31:49,879
That became a three strikes law.
1371
01:31:49,962 --> 01:31:52,340
And after that, I would even argue
with President Obama,
1372
01:31:52,423 --> 01:31:56,469
who could have taken marijuana off
the Schedule I list but chose to not.
1373
01:31:56,552 --> 01:31:58,971
And he himself
has smoked marijuana in his lifetime.
1374
01:31:59,847 --> 01:32:03,518
There is something to the fact
that we the public
1375
01:32:03,601 --> 01:32:05,853
not pushing them to do the right thing.
1376
01:32:06,687 --> 01:32:09,148
We have sat around too long.
1377
01:32:10,650 --> 01:32:12,443
[Brathwaite] Yeah,
people's minds are changing
1378
01:32:12,527 --> 01:32:13,861
and beginning to accept cannabis.
1379
01:32:14,403 --> 01:32:17,448
It seems as if everyone
is jumping on board.
1380
01:32:18,324 --> 01:32:21,911
You know, I couldn't fit this award
in my bag,
1381
01:32:21,994 --> 01:32:26,624
but I did find this,
so thank you guys very much.
1382
01:32:26,707 --> 01:32:27,917
Pop stars,
1383
01:32:28,834 --> 01:32:30,086
CEOs.
1384
01:32:30,169 --> 01:32:32,380
By the way, I have a present for you
for your new office.
1385
01:32:32,463 --> 01:32:34,006
Talk show hosts.
1386
01:32:34,632 --> 01:32:36,509
Even country music singers.
1387
01:32:36,592 --> 01:32:40,555
♪ Sometimes the only way to get by ♪
1388
01:32:41,514 --> 01:32:43,307
♪ Is to get high ♪
1389
01:32:48,563 --> 01:32:50,773
[Brathwaite] Now that cannabis
has become more mainstream
1390
01:32:50,856 --> 01:32:55,027
in the public consciousness,
you'd assume that our story ends here.
1391
01:32:56,737 --> 01:32:57,697
Nah.
1392
01:32:58,447 --> 01:33:02,285
America is many places
with a complex history,
1393
01:33:02,368 --> 01:33:05,830
many losers, winners, and victims.
1394
01:33:06,539 --> 01:33:10,209
Our story ends where a lot of it begins,
1395
01:33:10,835 --> 01:33:12,878
the state of Louisiana.
1396
01:33:14,880 --> 01:33:19,302
[Bernard Noble]
Since 2011, I was in Orleans Parish Prison
1397
01:33:19,844 --> 01:33:24,557
fighting a marijuana charge
that was worth five dollars on the street.
1398
01:33:32,148 --> 01:33:36,944
How in the world did I get 14 years
for five dollars' worth of merchandise?
1399
01:33:40,698 --> 01:33:42,783
[woman] It's been so many years.
1400
01:33:43,618 --> 01:33:45,369
I just can't wait to see...
1401
01:33:45,453 --> 01:33:50,082
I just can't wait to see him
walk out these doors for the first time.
1402
01:33:50,833 --> 01:33:53,419
We got ten minutes. I'm excited.
1403
01:33:55,713 --> 01:33:59,759
I'm glad. Like my sister just said,
I just want to see him.
1404
01:33:59,842 --> 01:34:02,595
I just want to see him walk out of there.
1405
01:34:03,679 --> 01:34:07,933
Seven more minutes, eight more minutes.
Eight more minutes.
1406
01:34:08,893 --> 01:34:11,103
-Okay, people, he's coming.
-Here he comes!
1407
01:34:11,187 --> 01:34:12,605
Oh, my God!
1408
01:34:13,356 --> 01:34:16,317
Let him out. Let him out, y'all.
1409
01:34:16,400 --> 01:34:17,902
-[buzzer sounds]
-Let him out.
1410
01:34:17,985 --> 01:34:20,529
[cheering and laughing]
1411
01:34:20,613 --> 01:34:23,824
Big brother! What you doing?
1412
01:34:24,325 --> 01:34:27,244
Oh, brother!
1413
01:34:27,328 --> 01:34:28,788
Ooh.
1414
01:34:28,871 --> 01:34:31,582
-Miss y'all.
-Oh, we miss you, brother.
1415
01:34:31,999 --> 01:34:33,584
Oh, brother got braids.
1416
01:34:35,002 --> 01:34:36,253
So glad.
1417
01:34:37,254 --> 01:34:38,798
I'm glad that's over.
1418
01:34:41,133 --> 01:34:46,305
I'm just so relieved to be out
of this kind of predicament.
1419
01:34:46,389 --> 01:34:52,144
I'm still not sure, you know,
how did this happen.
1420
01:34:52,812 --> 01:34:55,731
It's been confusing the whole entire time.
1421
01:34:55,815 --> 01:34:58,609
I, uh... I met a couple of other guys in.
1422
01:34:59,110 --> 01:35:04,115
Uh... They were facing life sentences
for small amounts of marijuana.
1423
01:35:04,198 --> 01:35:08,035
And I look at the news all the time
1424
01:35:08,119 --> 01:35:11,497
and I see how stuff is going on
with marijuana laws.
1425
01:35:11,580 --> 01:35:14,625
And I'm just--
I'm still confused about it.
1426
01:35:15,292 --> 01:35:17,795
But I finally made it out,
1427
01:35:17,878 --> 01:35:22,425
and I'm real grateful just to be here
right now standing out.
1428
01:35:23,175 --> 01:35:24,760
I'm a free man.
1429
01:37:16,705 --> 01:37:20,209
Like Harriet Tubman said, baby, we out.
1430
01:37:20,292 --> 01:37:21,168
Yeah.