PSAT Writing & Language Practice

Questions 1–10 are based on the following passage.

[1] After the success of legalized recreational marijuana in states like Colorado and Washington,  1  many states have progressing legislation to bring the marijuana business to their state. [2] States that have legalized recreational marijuana have seen a large tax boon. [3] As of 2018, Colorado had reportedly collected over $1.5 billion in taxes related to legal marijuana sales, despite  2  having legalized recreational marijuana less than 5 years earlier.

[4] Since the “War on Drugs” was initiated by Richard Nixon in 1971,  3  drug-related arrests were the subject of a lot of controversy. [5] Opponents of the War on Drugs point out how these arrests disproportionately affect people of color. [6]  4  While legalized recreational marijuana seems to be gaining traction all over the country, there are many supporters who are upset with how the drug is being legalized, and more specifically who is benefitting from it. [7] This problem became even more visible in the 1980’s, as crack cocaine hit America’s streets. [8] If someone were to go back and look through arrest records for crack cocaine, they might conclude that the drug was used almost exclusively by people of color. [9] In actuality, crack cocaine was used by people of all races, but the police and courts were targeting people of color. [10] Additionally, arrests for crack cocaine typically led to much harsher prison sentences than arrest for powder cocaine, which was perceived as a drug used more in white communities. [11] American laws still reflected this balance 20 years  5  later, and when the mandatory sentence for 5 grams of crack cocaine was the same as the mandatory sentence for 500 grams of powder cocaine.

Marijuana is obviously a very different drug from cocaine, otherwise no state would be considering legalization.  6  Marijuana arrests, however, have similarly affected the African American community way more than they have affected the white community.  7  That’s why some groups who support legalization are concerned about how it is happening. They worry that the people most affected by marijuana laws are being left out of the new legislation. They argue that after years of  8  targeting people of color, these laws are going to be repealed so that rich, white business owners can profit off the drug. The scary accusation inherent in that criticism is that people didn’t care about the fact that these laws were mistreating people of color  9  while there was money to be made.

Some states are taking measures to try to fix this problem, though. Connecticut, for example, has created a pathway to legalized recreational marijuana that would consider the communities that have been disproportionately affected by the laws being repealed. The bill will incentivize minority participation in Connecticut’s legal marijuana  10  industry, but would wipe arrest records for the drug clean. The hope is that this will allow minority business owners the chance to get in on the ground floor of an industry that has historically hurt their community.