Green for Whom? Who Gets Policed and Who Profits After Cannabis Legalization?

Authors

• Terry Wilson, Virginia Commonwealth University

Original Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Presentation

Comments

People's Choice winner of the 12th Annual VCU 3MT® Competition, held on October 9, 2026.

Abstract

Despite widespread cannabis legalization, racial disparities in enforcement persist alongside growing commercial profits. Examining whether legalization fosters equity or repeats past injustices, this research analyzes state-level post-legalization arrest gaps, traces tax revenue reinvestment in impacted communities, and evaluates minority ownership representation in legal markets. Combining quantitative policy metrics with qualitative interviews of young adults in Virginia, this study aims to provide empirical evidence ensuring cannabis policy shifts focus from disproportionate policing to genuine racial and economic repair.

Accessibility Note

Content is digitally accessible 2026.

Transcription

From the School of Public Health, Terry Wilson. Green for Whom? Who Gets Policed and Who Profits After Cannabis Legalization? Their advisor is Dr. Dina Garcia. In 2018, police in the United States made almost 700,000 arrests for marijuana, and those numbers didn't fall evenly. Black Americans were 3.6 times as likely as white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though both groups use it at similar rates. Today, that same plant is a business. In just three months this year, 29 states collected nearly $1 billion in cannabis taxes. Legalization was sold in part as a way to repair the damage those arrests caused. So I'm here to ask a simple question. Green for whom? Is legalization repair or repetition? Who's still being policed after legalization and who's profiting from it? I've studied policing through the numbers, analyzing police killings in New Orleans, and I taught high school in Jefferson Parish, where a ProPublica investigation found that more than 70% of the people deputies shot at were black. Earlier research found that when states legalized, arrests went down, but the racial gap and who got arrested didn't go away. If that's still true, legalization may have changed the law without changing who carries the burden. So first, I'll compare states before and after legalization to see if the racial gap is closing holding steady, or shifting. Second, I'll follow the money in states that make it traceable. Illinois sends a quarter of its recreational cannabis tax revenue to communities harmed by the war on drugs, so we can map where those dollars actually land. Massachusetts reports who works in and owns its cannabis businesses, so we can see who got a seat at the table. My prediction, the money lands farthest from the neighborhoods that were policed hardest, But the numbers can't tell you what it's like to see a store open selling the thing you were arrested for. So I plan to talk with people that lived it. Virginia gives me a rare chance to do that. Virginians have been allowed to possess cannabis since 2021. But outside the medical program, there's no legal way to buy it. But that changes July 2027. So I plan to interview young adults in Richmond before and after the market opens to learn whether legalization opens the door for them or passes them by. My goal is evidence that helps states direct cannabis money, licenses, and enforcement toward repair rather than repetition. Because if legalization was supposed to be justice, we should be able to measure whether it is.

Rights

© The Author