Every February we celebrate Black History month to acknowledge and appreciate the Black community and its rich historic and cultural contributions to society. At Ethos Cannabis, we believe that the cannabis industry and the ongoing push to legalize cannabis and recognize it as medicine wouldn’t be possible without the tireless contributions of diverse ethnicities and cultures.
The influence of cannabis on Black wellness culture in particular is both historically deep and socially complex, intersecting with cultural practices, community health, racial inequities, stigma, and evolving ideas about healing and holistic wellbeing.
Read on to learn more about the historical and cultural context of cannabis on Black wellness culture, modern-day inequities in cannabis access, community-driven solutions and traditions, representation gaps in Black health education, and why culturally informed wellness matters.
Historical cannabis influences on Black wellness culture
Cannabis has been part of healing practices in many traditional societies for centuries, including those that influenced Black diasporic cultures. The plant was commonly used for medicinal, spiritual, and community bonding purposes rather than purely recreational.
Before that, of course, we know that cannabis has roots in sub-Saharan Africa, arriving in East Africa and influencing indigenous smoking cultures in the Zambezi River valley. Its consumption spread throughout the continent, and eventually the plant made its way to the Americas through the global exploration of trade routes and the exploitation of African slave labor.
Modern-day inequities in Black access to wellness care
The legacy of cannabis prohibition has had profound effects on Black wellness culture. Decades of anti-cannabis propaganda pushed to tie cannabis use to Black and Hispanic communities in degrading and negative connotations, fueling the rise of prohibition laws.
This systemic hostility towards minority communities has compounded over time, resulting in profound inequities in Black access to adequate health and wellness care.
Criminalization
Enforcement of cannabis laws in the United States has disproportionately targeted Black and minority communities, contributing to disparities in arrests, incarceration, employment prospects, and community health despite similar rates of cannabis use across racial groups in the US.
Consequences of a cannabis conviction extend far beyond immediate legal penalties. Convictions can limit employment, housing, education, voting rights, and access to public benefits, all of which are key factors of long-term wellbeing.
These cumulative effects of prosecution contribute to intergenerational health inequities, as Black families and communities bear the economic and social costs of cannabis criminalization.
Clinical bias and stigma
Historical stigma around cannabis combined with ongoing racial bias in healthcare can discourage open clinical conversations about cannabis use and wellness among Black patients and health practitioners.
The Black community has developed intergenerational mistrust of medical and research institutions stemming from infamous unethical race-based studies and practices like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, forced sterilization, Henrietta Lacks, and disparities in maternal healthcare. Black patients are also more likely to experience undertreatment for pain due to false beliefs held by some medical providers that there are biological differences that impact their ability to manage pain.
Despite widespread legal access to cannabis for medical and wellness purposes, many structural and geographic inequities limit access for Black patients. For example, research in New York found that medical cannabis services are less available in neighborhoods with higher proportions of Black residents, with dispensaries and certifying clinicians more concentrated in areas with higher education and income levels.
Additionally, barriers such as distance to dispensaries, cost of cannabis products, and limited clinician availability disproportionately affect lower-income and marginalized populations, often making legal access more difficult than illicit procurement.
The combination of distrust in the medical community and lack of access to cannabis wellness opportunities adversely impacts the Black community and their efforts to improve long-term health. For instance, Black people have the highest rate for cancer overall, and more than 90% of people affected by sickle cell disease in the US are Black.
Rebuilding trust and access to cannabis as a health and wellness aid to manage symptoms of these and many other diseases disproportionately afflicting the Black community would be a step in the right direction towards improving overall health and wellness care.
Economic exclusion from the legal cannabis industry
Social equity programs designed to increase Black ownership and participation in the legal cannabis market are often hindered by steep capital requirements, complex application processes, and limited access to loans or investment that favor existing entrepreneurs.
Despite the ongoing growth and maturation of the legal cannabis industry, less than 2% of licensed dispensary owners nationwide are Black.
Community-driven solutions and traditions
In recent decades, there’s been a marked effort within Black wellness culture to reclaim cannabis as part of holistic health and self-care.
Holistic wellness
Black-led wellness programs and entrepreneurs are incorporating cannabis and CBD into self-care strategies for stress relief, sleep support, and pain management as alternatives to conventional pharmaceuticals.
Events like Black Cannabis Week blend healing practices, advocacy, wellness, and creative expression, creating spaces where Black communities can celebrate their contributions to cannabis culture, engage in intergenerational learning, and discuss justice-centered policy reforms.
Media platforms like The Black Cannabis Magazine highlight voices, stories, and perspectives often sidelined in mainstream cannabis coverage. This representation in storytelling helps normalize conversations about cannabis use as part of health and cultural identity.
Cultural expression
Cannabis has long played symbolic and social roles in Black art, music, and community spaces. During the jazz and blues era of the 1920s-1930s, cannabis was common in community clubs and among Black musicians, not only for recreation but as a social lubricant, creative aid, and symbol of resistance to restrictive norms. For instance, songs like “If You’re a Viper” captured the slang and social meaning of cannabis use in the scene (“viper” was slang for someone who smoked cannabis).
Reggae artists like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh incorporated cannabis themes into their music, using it as a symbol of spiritual awakening, resistance to oppression, and cultural identity. Songs such as “Kaya” by Bob Marley and the Wailers or Tosh’s “Legalize It” brought these themes into mainstream awareness.
In funk and hip-hop, references to cannabis became symbols of resistance, identity, and lifestyle. Cannabis imagery and mentions in songs have helped normalize its use culturally and connect musical storytelling to everyday realities and aspirations. For example, albums like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic brought cannabis imagery and language into broader pop culture, helping shape the aesthetic and identity of West Coast hip-hop in the early 1990s and beyond.
Cannabis in artistic imagery across music, street art, and design motifs often function as a marker of authenticity, community belonging, and cultural resistance to narrate life experiences, challenge mainstream norms, and affirm personal and collective expression.
Entrepreneurship and equity
Black entrepreneurs and social equity advocates are working to ensure that cannabis businesses contribute to community health and economic opportunities, despite the persistence of barriers to capital and licensing.
An organization that Ethos Cares has supported through various initiatives and programming support is Black Scranton, an organization and local heritage initiative dedicated to archiving and celebrating Black history and culture of its region.
Organizations such as the Black Cannabis Equity Initiative advocate for Black participation in the industry through advocacy, education, and partnership with legislators and industry leaders. These partnerships invest in business development, education, workforce training, and restorative justice through workshops, capital support, and workforce pipelines into licensed cannabis careers for communities impacted by criminalization.
Social equity and community coalitions like BIPOCANN offer education, mentorship, and networking specifically for Black and BIPOC entrepreneurs in an effort to build competitive businesses, correct exclusionary trends, and strengthen representation in ownership, employment, and market access.
Additionally, Black-owned cannabis brands continue to appear across the US, many of which center on wellness, community reinvestment, and cultural affirmation.
Representation gaps in cannabis health education
Closing gaps in health education and dismantling stigma around cannabis, especially within health systems, is key to improving Black community wellness.
Community and nonprofit groups across the US are developing education programs, seminars, and industry bootcamps designed to demystify cannabis, touching on a range of topics from therapeutic uses to business skills for audiences that historically lacked access to this knowledge.
These programs often incorporate justice awareness and restorative practices. They not only teach product safety and uses, but also the legal history of cannabis and the impact of criminalization, helping participants contextualize health decisions within social equity frameworks.
Broader equity alliances within the cannabis space are emphasizing DEI training, cultural competency, and community engagement as essential pillars of their work. This includes advocating for policy reforms, supporting minority-owned businesses, and creating inclusive industry norms that value historically marginalized voices.
These initiatives help reduce stigma by equipping individuals and communities with accurate information, and by reframing cannabis as a legitimate subject of health, cultural study, and economic opportunity rather than a taboo or criminalized substance.
Why culturally informed wellness matters today
Collectively, these community-led efforts illustrate a multifaceted movement toward greater equity, wellness, and empowerment in how cannabis is understood and embraced within Black communities:
- Holistic healing traditions reconnect ancestral knowledge with modern wellness practice
- Cultural expression reframes cannabis narratives in creative and affirming ways
- Entrepreneurship and equity initiatives work to break down barriers to industry participation and economic growth
- Education and destigmatization efforts deepen health literacy and challenge harmful stereotypes
Together, these approaches seek not just to increase representation in health education and industry leadership, but to center Black voices in shaping what wellness looks like in the context of cannabis and beyond.
What is Black History Month?
Both the United States and Canada observe Black History Month every year throughout the month of February. Many other countries, including the UK, the Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Jamaica, and several African countries, also acknowledge Black History Month (although not always in February).
Originating in the US, the commemoration started in 1926 under historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Stud of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) as a weeklong acknowledgement of “Negro history” to coincide with Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass’ birthdays (February 12 and 14, respectively).
In 1969, Black History Month was proposed by Black students and educators at Kent State University, and in 1970 the university was the first in the US to celebrate Black history throughout the entire month of February. This monthlong focus steadily spread across the country, and in 1976 President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month during the United States Bicentennial celebration.
Every year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the organization formerly known as the ASNLH, announces a theme for Black History Month in an effort to “bring to the public’s attention important developments that merit emphasis.” This tradition dates back to 1928, with the first theme centering on “Civilization: A World Achievement.”
In 2022, the ASALH designated the Black History Month theme to be “Black Health and Wellness,” touching upon “not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora,” acknowledging a myriad of “activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.”
This year, the ASALH has announced “A Century of Black History Commemorations” as the theme for Black History Month, marking 100 years of national commemorations of Black history.
In its announcement, the organization said it best by reiterating that “Black history’s value is not its contribution to mainstream historical narratives, but its resonance in the lives of Black people,” which is why easing safe, legal access to cannabis is crucial in supporting the ongoing health and wellness improvements of the Black community.
