by Randy Robinson
Last year, Illinois launched a strictly controlled medical cannabis program. However, the group ‘burned worst’ from prohibition’s warpath – 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 innercity 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% of all marijuana-related arrests in Chicago. Additionally, according to FBI data, in 2014, there were 25% 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.
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.
“We want to educate the Low-income minority community on the positive aspects of medical marijuana.”
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 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 then that 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-Town. Currently, all dispensaries in Chicago are on the outer edges of the city, way beyond walking distance from the lower-income communities.
“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.” – Cerrone Crowder
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 and let’s make history!“
