433 Black, school-aged youth may experience socioeconomic, psychological, and emotional difficulties that affect their mental health, leading to maladaptive ways of coping, such as cannabis use. Instead of getting treatment and support to help them manage their stressors in positive ways, Black youth often receive punitive school practices, including referrals to the juvenile justice system. Counselors who work with school-aged youth are likely to encounter many Black youth and can thus either be instrumental to their psychological development or inadvertently impede their well-being with over-pathologization and criminalization of their cannabis use. In this article, the author reflects on a particular experience he had working with a Black youth and how it influenced his cultural competency and development as a counselor. The author also discusses the socioeconomic landscape and psychological experience of Black youth and their rationale for cannabis use. The article concludes with implications for professional counselors. Keywords: Black youth, cannabis use, criminalization, school-aged youth, cultural competency Even though people of all races use drugs at similar rates, drug enforcement in the United States overly targets low-income communities and people of color in general (Camplain et al., 2020; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019). A growing body of research further suggests that the enforcement of cannabis laws not only disproportionately affects marginalized communities, but that those laws particularly affect Black adolescents and young adults, who, in comparison to their White counterparts, often experience more cannabis possession arrests (Ammerman et al., 2015; Bunting et al., 2013; Tran et al., 2020). Hence, for many Black youth who use cannabis, especially those who live in low-income communities, the intersection of race and low socioeconomic status (SES) becomes a prelude to systematic stigmatization and over-pathologization, resulting in the criminalization of their cannabis use. The two monolithic societal institutions most complicit in the criminalization of Black youth’s cannabis use include the school/educational system and the juvenile justice system (JJS; Bacher-Hicks et al., 2021; Blitzman, 2021; Sheehan et al., 2021). Because of their scope of influence, power, and authority over all youth in the United States, the systematic decisions and practices endorsed within these institutions in response to Black youth’s use of cannabis can often lead to deleterious and enduring consequences that can adversely impact their mental health. Professional counselors who work with school-aged youth will likely be Black youth’s first encounter with the counseling profession. Therefore, these counselors’ engagement with Black youth will likely set the stage for their perception of behavioral health professionals. These counselors can assume a position of active, resolute defense and support of Black youth to bring an understanding to these systems about their ecology and rationale for cannabis use and foster proactive, helpful, and supportive strategies that nurture positive coping and healthy habits. Furthermore, these counselors can challenge the status quo and effect systematic change to combat the paradigms that stigmatize and pathologize Black youth who use cannabis. The Professional Counselor™ Volume 13, Issue 4, Pages 433–447 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2024 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates doi: 10.15241/rj.13.4.433 Rommel Johnson Diondre Also Has Bad Days: Cannabis Use and the Criminalization of Black Youth Rommel Johnson, PhD, NCC, LPC, CRC, CAADC, is an assistant professor at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Correspondence may be addressed to Rommel Johnson, 1201 W University School of Rehabilitation Services and Counseling, Edinburg, TX 78539, rommel.johnson@utrgv.edu.
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