I will never forget when I found out about Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman’s interview about what drove the criminalization of marijuana during his time.
In his own words:
“You want to know what this was really all about?
The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.
Did we know we were lying about the drugs?
Of course we did.”
It’s always been racism.
Blazin' Doggo
npub1n7…elxnt
2026-01-28 00:23:10 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…dn2r
Author Public Key
npub1n78g7pnh5kq35n3l2kq77rzg8l6ksqggt39x9lhmk85gk3l09p5q0elxntSeen on
wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2026-01-28 00:23:10 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "65ac820ad461dc8ecfbbbee70d8177ad6fab45822094cd4af06fa4bb153ed1eb",
"pubkey": "9f8e8f0677a5811a4e3f5581ef0c483ff56801085c4a62fefbb1e88b47ef2868",
"created_at": 1769559790,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"p",
"a32ef24bb7a1ef3752e84e42c4a6701c1c1158af93001efea85695818d521d14"
],
[
"e",
"3dd97d100418c880e6befd068c844a0ad0adeaf2c71f0c69eb58b5b9cb050fc5",
"",
"root",
"a32ef24bb7a1ef3752e84e42c4a6701c1c1158af93001efea85695818d521d14"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://cubhub.social/@BlazingDoggo/115969870402672202",
"web"
],
[
"content-warning",
"re: Weed Racism"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://cubhub.social/users/BlazingDoggo/statuses/115969870402672202",
"activitypub"
],
[
"L",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"l",
"pink.momostr.activitypub:https://cubhub.social/users/BlazingDoggo/statuses/115969870402672202",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"-"
]
],
"content": "I will never forget when I found out about Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman’s interview about what drove the criminalization of marijuana during his time.\n\nIn his own words:\n\n“You want to know what this was really all about? \n\nThe Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. \n\nDid we know we were lying about the drugs?\n\nOf course we did.”\n\nIt’s always been racism.",
"sig": "65273603a1acd5966001ebcfa058d4840ecdc398f6674b489aa098eb95fd47819ec3223b77848ed486a61e198f2878610cb31ae68260a70920654a06dbba60b2"
}