You can smoke cannabis, pot, or weed, but to call it “marijuana” is just racist, according to a new video from NowThis.

The word ‘marijuana’ is rooted in racism — here’s why you should say ‘cannabis’ instead pic.twitter.com/7FD7qEz9Ac — NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 1, 2018

The NowThis reporter in the video lays out the supposed racist history of how the word marijuana was introduced to “the American lexicon.” He claims that the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) began a campaign in the 1930s to demonize the drug by linking it to Mexican immigrants and black people. He further claims that the FBN director at the time, Harry Anslinger, purposely pronounced the word with an Hispanic accent to make it sound “scary to white people.”

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The racist roots of the word are apparently alive and well today, thanks to certain bad actors in the government.

“We’re still trying to fight the negative stigma that clings onto a plant in 2018,” the reporter says. “All because of white men such as Jeff Sessions and Steve Alford who keep making terrible remarks when trying to make marijuana a culprit for crime.”

NowThis then vows to abolish its use of “marijuana” to reference the drug in future news stories. The alternative? Cannabis.

“Just call it by its Latin name and you’ll not only be technically correct, but also politically correct,” the reporter claims.

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