Women’s History Month and Marijuana: Uncovering the Link between Feminism and CannabisOn

Why is Cannabis relevant to the celebration of Women’s History Month?

Cannabis makes for a rare and remarkable feminist icon. Female business ownershave pioneered the commercial market for the plant, making CBD and marijuana products a source of economic equalization in the face of glaring financial disparities between the sexes. Yet the plant has played far more roles in the fight for gender equality than most people know. Women have gained social and political power on both sides of the legalization debate, while cannabis offered still more women spiritual authority before the advent of elected government. The plant’s role in the enrichment of women’s social, political, and economic lives makes it an essential part of any discussion of women’s history and those surrounding their future.

Legalization

The first significant mobilization of women’s political power in the United States is often considered to be the Prohibition movement, which culminated in the passage of the Eighteenth amendment in 1919, formally prohibiting the sale of alcohol. It was not a coincidence that the Nineteenth Amendment was passed only a year later, granting women the right to vote. Alcohol, however, is far from the only substance politically minded women have tied to the fight for their social, political, and economic independence.

Cannabis criminalization in the United States began in the early twentieth century, as the Food and Drug Administration worked to create more rigorous regulation for a wide range of narcotics, including cocaine, opium, as well as cannabis, which appeared in many products, especially medicines, at the time. Cannabis laws grew more and more strict as the century wore on, with no greater critics than those in the medical world. Doctors and nurses defended the medicinal benefits of cannabis but to no avail. Restrictions on cannabis continued to increase, reaching their height during the War on Drugs. At the same time, the HIV/AIDS epidemic was beginning, revitalizing the medicinal marijuana movement. Nurse Mary Jane Rathburn, also known as “Brownie Mary”, became well-known in San Francisco for her work with people living with AIDS. Not only had she lobbied for cannabis legalization since the 1960s, but she also risked jail time to provide AIDS patients with her famous marijuana brownies in an effort to reduce their pain and increase their appetites. She would later open the first medical cannabis dispensary in the United States.

Nurse Mary Jane Rathburn, also known as “Brownie Mary”

Occurring at the same time as the second-wave feminist movement, the War on Drugs offered fertile ground for female intellectuals to exercise their newfound voice. Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead gave a speech before a 1969 Senate hearing, describing marijuana criminalization as “a new form of tyranny”. Though her speech did not result in a de-escalation of the War on Drugs, Mead’s appearance made her one of the first women to offer expert testimony in a Congressional hearing, marking an important shift in the nature of political power and intellectual authority in the United States.

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