Pot for Profit: Cannabis Legalization, Racial Capitalism, and the Expansion of the Carceral State. By Joseph Mello. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2024. 208p. $105.00 cloth, $26.00 paper.

It has been over a decade since the first U.S. states legalized cannabis for recreational use, and no one seems entirely satisfied with the results. Conservatives worry about rising consumption levels, adverse health effects, and cultural-moral decline. Regulators fret over unlicensed dispensaries, untested products, and marketing tactics aimed at adolescents. Meanwhile, the progressive activists who led the charge for cannabis legalization complain that it has amounted to a windfall for a small set of companies while doing little to advance social or racial justice. What went wrong?