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Courtesy of BETMulti-platinum rapper and entrepreneur Nas will serve as narrator and executive producer of BET’s new documentary, Smoke: Marijuana + Black America.
Produced by Swirl Films, the two-hour special will explore the booming cannabis industry and its cultural, social, economic and legal impact on American society and the Black community, juxtaposed against the fight to reap the benefits of legalization.
To date, only 4.3 percent of marijuana dispensaries are Black-owned, in an industry that’s projected to generate $30 billion in sales by 2025, according to a press release.
Smoke: Marijuana + Black America will feature testimonies and notable appearances from Ty Dolla $ign, Cypress Hill rapper B-Real, “Freeway” Ricky Ross, former NBA star Al Harrington, CJ Wallace, son of the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G., and others, as well as Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris and Senator Cory Booker.
Smoke: Marijuana + Black America will also trace marijuana’s complex legacy by exploring “America’s unjust war on drugs [that has] systematically targeted marijuana use in the Black community, resulting in racially disproportionate numbers of arrests and convictions.”
The film also spotlights the tragic story of Corvain Cooper, a father who’s serving a life sentence for selling marijuana in the same neighborhood where legal dispensaries now operate in the open.
“They need to free everybody that’s locked up for marijuana today,” says Nas in the series trailer.
Smoke: Marijuana + Black America premieres tonight at 10 p.m. ET on BET.
By Rachel George
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
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