I love weed. I smoke it daily. It has helped me with depression and anxiety. But something is troubling with the nascent marijuana industry: moneyed interests are getting in on the ground floor while victims of the drug war rot away in prisons. Despite the legality of weed in Colorado, those imprisoned are still not free [0]. Latinos are incarcerated at 1.5x the rate of whites, blacks 3x as much, despite drug use being equal across the board. Do we call those who grew and sold pot to feed their families entrepreneurs, are they idolized in think pieces? The entire industry has been whitewashed and is still prey to the same racist fears that spurred its prohibition in the first place. Legitimization by the banks isn't going to help end such injustices - if anything, it will simply enable those with wealth.

0. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/25/colorado-releasing-...