Seth Rogen Says Marijuana Being Illegal Is ‘Just A Way To Put Black People In Jail’
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Seth Rogen has spoken out about the legalisation of marijuana, remarking that keeping it illegal is ‘just a way to put black people in jail’.
Through his cannabis company Houseplant, the 39-year-old comedian has publicly advocated for expunging criminal records stemming from marijuana arrests, and is known to be a long-time supporter of legalising cannabis.
Rogen is also a known member of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML) a non-profit organisation which advocates for the reformation of marijuana legislation in the US, both for medical and non-medical use.
During an interview with The New York Times Magazine, Rogen emphasised that keeping marijuana illegal was ‘racist’, asserting:
It’s insane to arrest people for something that never should have been illegal in the first place. It’s just a way to put Black people in jail.
Reflecting on his own marijuana use, Rogen added:
It’s just a tool we use to make our experience more palatable, and some people need those tools a lot more than others. For me it’s like shoes.
For you it might be like sunglasses. Not everyone’s the same. If someone doesn’t need to smoke weed? Great. It’s the same as someone telling me they don’t wear glasses. ‘Mazel tov! You don’t wear glasses. I do!’
In an April 2020 report from the ACLU, it was discovered that Black people were 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people, despite similar rates of cannabis use.
Although these rates were found to differ by area, all US states were found to have disproportionate arrests for Black cannabis users.
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