Professor Owusu-Bempah discussed cannabis justice measures in a video on VICE. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have been charged with cannabis-related offences, and racialized communities have been hit especially hard. In response, Professor Owusu-Bempah explains a three-pronged approach to reparations: cannabis amnesty and expungement of records; inclusion in the list of the cannabis industry; and reinvestment of some of the tax revenue from legal sales back into communities that were most targeted and harmed by prohibition. In brief, these measures are intended to repair conditions for people with previous records of cannabis related offences, and provide avenues for them to enter into the newly legalized industry.
Professor Owusu-Bempah appears at about minute 3:00. The full video can be found here.
Dr. Owusu-Bempah is an Assistant Professor of Sociology with teaching responsibilities at the UTM camps. His research is focused on three main areas: Policing, youth marginalization and exclusion, and race. He is particularly interested in how people of the African Diaspora (African Canadians, African Americans) perceive and experience law enforcement and punishment. His research has recently been published in the scholarly journals Policing and Society, Crime and Justice, and Theoretical Criminology.