UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Knowledge of Good and Evil: An Urban Ethnography of a Smoking Culture Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5k39t42m Author Cathcart, Jermaine Hekili Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Knowledge of Good and Evil: An Urban Ethnography of a Smoking Culture A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Jermaine Hekili Cathcart August 2016 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Adalberto Aguirre, Chairperson Dr. Ellen Reese Dr. Augustine Kposowa Copyright by Jermaine Hekili Cathcart 2016 The Dissertation of Jermaine Hekili Cathcart is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express gratitude to my mentor and dissertation chair Adalberto Aguirre. This project would not have been possible without his encouragement and support. Professor Aguirre was one of the few people who supported me when I originally proposed the idea to study cannabis users, growers and sellers. Your continued support helped me through graduate school. I would also like to thank my unofficial mentors Ellen Reese and Scott Brooks. Ellen Reese consistently checked up on my progress and encouraged me to stay focused while in graduate school. Scott Brooks was there to talk, give assistance and advice even though he was no longer working at UC Riverside. I would also like to acknowledge my other committee member Augustine Kposowa who reviewed my work in valuable and constructive ways. I am also grateful to the sociology department of the University of California, Riverside. This dissertation would not have been possible without your continued support both financially and academically. I would also like to thank the many friends and colleagues I had while in graduate school. Having people I could lean on was vital. The advice I received from friends and colleagues, sharing stories about our struggles and stresses, and our persistent writing sessions helped me to tackle what seemed to me to be an unachievable challenge. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Knowledge of Good and Evil: An Urban Ethnography of a Smoking Culture by Jermaine Hekili Cathcart Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Sociology University of California, Riverside August 2016 Dr. Adalberto Aguirre, Chairperson A significant amount of research has been dedicated to examining issues of drugs, drug abuse and drug dealing. Unfortunately, nearly all of the sociological and criminological literature on drug using and selling behavior has stayed trapped within a prism that fails to conceptualize the practice as anything other than, at best, a public health issue, and at worst, a criminal problem in need of eradication. This dissertation takes a different approach to understanding the phenomena of drug use, in particular cannabis use. Utilizing non-participant observations and semi-structured in-depth interview methodology, I sought to understand the ideas, culture, motivations and rationalizations of a group of cannabis users, growers and sellers in Southern California. This qualitative approach provided an in depth, descriptive and rich understanding of the motivations of cannabis users, growers and sellers. This dissertation presents a view of drug use and selling as inherently normal, non-problematic, and utilized for spiritual, social, cultural and reflexive purposes. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................1 Central Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………..4 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………………………….8 Methodology………………………………………………………………………………….……..10 Limitations..……………………………………………………………………………..…………..20 Dissertation Outline………………………………………………………………………………....24 CHAPTER 2: The Bush of Understanding……………………………………………………………29 Cannabis…………………………………………………………………………………………….30 Origins……………………………………………………………………………………………...33 Cannabis History…….……………………………………………………………………………..34 Cannabis in the U.S………………………………………………………………………………...43 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………….54 CHAPTER 3: THE CM KINGS………………………………………………………………………..55 Getting In………………………………………………………………………………………………………56 Natty & Dorian…………………………………………………………………………………………………59 The Rest………………………………………………………………………………………………………...64 The Garden of Eden……………………………………………………………………………………………68 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………..73 CHAPTER 4: THE STREET CORNER COLLECTIVE……………………………………………74 The Corner………………………………………………………………………………………….79 Types of Products…………………………………………………………………………………...84 Distribution System…………………………………………………………………………………91 Transactions…………………………………………………………………………………………92 Delivery Service…………………………………………………………………………………….96 Vending System…………………………………………………………………………………….100 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………….102 Legal versus Illegal Markets……………………………………………………………………….107 Changing Markets………………………………………………………………………………….112 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………….114 CHAPTER 5: STREET CORNER COLLECTIVE THE ORGANIZATION……………………..116 The Shiva…………………………………………………………………………………………..118 Meetings……………………………………………………………………………………………119 Cannabis and Status………………………………………………………………………………..126 Cannabis and Bonding……………………………………………………………………………..129 Cannabis and Reflexivity…………………………………………………………………………..131 Alcohol vs Cannabis……………………………………………………………………………….134 Medicine for the World….…………………………………………………………………………137 Cannabis and Sexuality…………………………………………………………………………….140 Beliefs and Symbols……………………………………………………………………………….143 Culture and Cannabis………………………………………………………………………………151 CHAPTER 6: A CULTURAL…………………………………………………………………………153 The Classical Model………………………………………………………………………………..155 The Anti-motivation Syndrome…………………………………………………………………….159 The Criminological Perspective…………………………………………………………………….165 vi The Cultural Perspective……………………………………………………………………………178 Culture, Spirituality and Reflexivity…………………………………………………………….….182 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………...….188 Typlogy of Users and Sellers…..…………………………………………………………………...190 Contributions……………………………………………………………………………………….195 Future Directions…………………………………………………………………………………...199 Politics of Legalization……………………………………………………………………………..202 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………205 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………………….210 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………………222 vii KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL: AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A SMOKING CULTURE Herb is important to those who accept it, but it is more important to the people who do not accept it, because herb is a reality. Herb is not something you create, herb is a plant...Why these people who want to do so much good for everyone, who call themselves government and this and that, why them say you must not use the herb? They say you must not use it because it make you rebel. Against what? Against the men who create desire and want of material things, and captivate your mind, and offer you a pension and then keep it all…So herb make you look upon yourself and instead of wanting to work for the Man you want to be the Man too. Not in the sense of owning this, but in the sense as to why should you have to bow to these things... When the world confuses you and you’re worried, and you don’t have time to think, herb is the thing that gives you a little time for yourself, so you can live. -Marley, Bob, 1979. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Life Without Parole Its just after 9 p.m. on a cold night in Shreverport Louisiana. A homeless African- American man, Fate Winslow, approaches a man on the street and asks him what he is looking for. The man however, is no ordinary individual, the man that Fate approaches is an undercover cop. The cop tells him he wants two bags and promises him a $5 commission. Being homeless and in need of a meal for the night, Fate takes the officers money and returns with two bags of marijuana, after which he is ushered into the backseat of a patrol car. Three months later, Winslow is found guilty of selling a schedule 1 narcotic and is sentenced to life in a hard prison camp without the possibility of parole. Winston’s fate to die behind bars for a miniscule amount of pot is hard to believe, but it is not unique. While it would be comforting to think Fate’s was the only of its kind, unfortunately, this is not the case. As of August 2013, there are approximately 3,278 people serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for non –violent offenses 1 according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 2013 report. And, 79% of those individuals are sentenced for non-violent drug offenses (ACLU 2013). This reality is ever more shocking when considering that 23 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, and 3 states and the District of Columbia, have legalized cannabis for recreational purposes for individuals over the age of 21. What do we make of this perplexing contradictory view of marijuana as medicine on one hand, and a criminal substance so abhorrent that we need to lock up users and sellers for the rest of their lives on the other? Marijuana Some revere cannabis as the vehicle to spiritual enlightenment and consciousness (Barrett, 1997), while others consider it to be a direct revelation from God (Morningstar, 1985; Dobkin De Rios & Winkelman, 1989: 4; see also Shannon, 2008 where Shannon suggest Moses was under the influence of a