by Randy Robinson
Last year, Illinois launched a strictly controlled medical cannabis program.
However, the group burned worst from prohibition’s war path
– African-Americans – remain horribly underrepresented in Chicago’s
fledgling industry. But one man wants to change that.
Cerrone Crowder founded Delivering Opportunities
to People Everywhere, otherwise
known as DOPE House, to educate his community
about the benefits of medical marijuana.
His ultimate aim: to move inner-city
youth away from a life of crime by encouraging
them to join a legit, regulated, cannabis
market.
“All they know is blunts and joints,” Crowder
told Kurple. “They have no idea about vaporization,
edibles, or safer ways to consume.
It’s not real to them. They don’t watch CNN,
so they don’t know about Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Most people here don’t even know it’s legal.”
Out of all of America’s cities, Chicago has
the fifth highest rate of incarceration for marijuana
offenses. And most of those arrested,
not surprisingly, are African-Americans.
Even though a quarter of the city’s population
is black, blacks make up 75 percent
of all marijuana-related arrests in Chicago.
Additionally, according to FBI data, in 2014,
there were 25 percent more murders in Chicago
than in New York City. Factor in that
just over one million of Chicago’s residents
live below the poverty line, and the picture
looks pretty grim.
“Crime is so rampant in Chicago because
there’s no jobs out there,” he said. “The same
thing young people are getting incarcerated
for is the same thing a select few are
making millions of dollars off of.”
According to a recent ArcView Study, the
legal cannabis industry will net $11 billion
per year. “All this crime that’s going on? If
nothing else is working, why not try this?” he
asked. “Give them something they’re good
at. They’re entrepreneurs already. They take
a product, they distribute it, they package it,
they got to sell it, they do customer service
and customer retention, and they have to
find new clients. And they do all of this off
the record. they’re entrepreneurs already.
it’s sad to see that these people can’t
make money because they don’t have
half a million dollars to put up a dispensary.
if you can’t do it that way, let’s research.
let’s make history.
The slang origin of DOPE House’s name isn’t
lost on Crowder, either. A dope house is a
place where people can obtain or use illegal
street drugs. Crowder wants to reclaim
the phrase to give the word “dope” a positive
spin in an era of sweeping marijuana
law reforms. “If I had named it anything
else – like the ‘Chicago Cannabis Club’ – it
wouldn’t have gotten the same attention,”
he said.
Despite his community’s struggles, Crowder
has hope. He works as an EMT in one of
Chicago’s busiest and poorest neighborhoods.
He says many of his patients, who
lack health insurance, would benefit from
medical cannabis.
African-Americans risk suffering from diabetes,
stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and heart
disease at a far higher rate than Caucasians.
African-Americans also die from
these diseases at higher rates than Caucasians.
Hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific
studies have shown that cannabis can
treat or prevent many of these ailments
– and often at a fraction of the cost compared
to conventional medicine.
But Crowder’s time as a paramedic didn’t
lead him into the life of a cannabis crusader.
It was his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s
that did.
“The doctor told us there was nothing they
”
We want to educate the
Low-income minority
community on the positive
aspects of medical marijuana.”
”
could do for it,” he said. “Basically, she
would digress, digress and digress.”
The pharmaceuticals his grandmother
took sunk her into a near catatonic state.
While searching for alternative treatments,
Crowder stumbled on research showing
low doses of THC could treat Alzheimer’s.
His family then approached their doctor
about getting medical marijuana for his
grandmother.
“The doctor looked at my grandfather,
who’s 88, and my uncle, who’s 66, and he
laughed. Then he said, ‘The only thing you
want to do with it is get high,'” Crowder
said. “I took it personal.”
Crowder then set out to learn more about
medical cannabis. He attended NORML
meetings in Illinois, where he was often the
only African-American present. The lack of
minority representation in marijuana law
reform shocked him. “I’m hearing so much
about cannabis extracts and dabs truly
healing people,” he said. “And I’m wondering
why nobody in my community ever
heard about this. I realized there was no
education about this being pushed our
way.”
Crowder’s DOPE House intends to correct
this knowledge gap. For now, he’s spreading
the word by speaking at nursing homes
and churches, places that act as hubs of
social networking in the African-American
community.
In the future, he also sees DOPE House
helping young blacks get their foot into
the doors of Chicago’s cannabis industry.
He wants to work with the community to
come up with ideas to take full advantage
of satellite services surrounding medical
marijuana, such as transporting inner-city
patients to and from dispensaries.
“There’s no dispensaries on the south or
west side of Chicago,” which Crowder
noted were the poorest sections of Chi-
Cerrone Crowder: “Why don’t
you take this opportunity to
finally do something positive
and heal your community.
The community can heal itself
through a product we’ve been
incarcerated for – for years.”
”
Town. Currently, all dispensaries in Chicago
are on the outer edges of the city, way
beyond walking distance from the lowerincome
communities.
Recent developments in Illinois’s government
may change minority access for
the better. In April, the Cook County state
attorney’s office, located in Chicago, announced
they would no longer prosecute
misdemeanor marijuana offenses. Statewide,
a bill to decriminalize possession of
30 grams and five plants awaits the governor’s
signature.
“All this crime that’s going on? If nothing
else is working, why not try this?” Crowder
asked. “Give [residents of the inner-city]
something they’re good at. They’re entrepreneurs
already. They take a product,
they distribute it, they package it, they sell
it, they do customer service and customer
retention, and they have to find new clients.
And they do all of this off the record.”
“It’s sad to see that these people can’t
make money because they don’t have
half a million dollars to put up a dispensary,”
he noted. “If you can’t do it that way,
let’s research. Let’s make history.”
