Two developments this week worth noting:

• The FDA will soon approve the first prescription drug made from cannabis. Created to control epilepsy, the drug will take a naturally occurring plant and monetize it for the benefit of pharmaceutical company shareholders. And so it goes.
• John Boehner announced he'll join the board of Acreage Holdings, a marijuana cultivation and distribution company. This is the same John Boehner who was “unalterably opposed” to legalization in 2011 and who voted to prohibit medical marijuana in the District of Columbia in 1999.

What's going on? According to the New York Times, the tide has turned, "Thirty-nine states have legalized marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes. The legal marijuana industry raked in $9 billion in sales last year and is expected to bring in $11 billion this year. Nevada netted $30 million in tax revenue in the first six months of legal sales, while Colorado has earned more than $500 million in tax revenue since recreational marijuana sales became legal there in 2014."

But while all this money-making is going on, two populations continue to be negatively affected. First are black people, who are four times as likely to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession as whites, even though they use the drug at about the same rate. North Carolina jails and prisons are overflowing with people of color who have been targeted by our racist police forces and our racist laws. There's no other explanation that makes any sense.