Ganja culture reveres outlaws and typically functions as a sacrament for local Rastafarians and the hipneck pioneers of Humboldt County, California and as a cloak-and-dagger for-profit industry. So when Emmy-award winning journalist Ari Melber quoted verses from Peter Tosh’s famous ‘Legalize It’ song to welcome President Joe Biden’s decision last week to pardon Americans convicted for simple possession of marijuana under federal law, many people around the world had reason to pause… and perhaps light up to mark the moment.

“So I say with no hint of exaggeration, after his long career, President Biden may be approaching the ‘Peter Tosh phase’ of his approach to prohibition policies,” Melber intoned on his The Beat with Ari Melber programme on MSNBC, this week.

Peter Tosh’s daughter Niambe Tosh was one of the first to react.

“We are nowhere near my father’s vision for a legalized cannabis industry. 40,000 people still incarcerated, black entrepreneurs only making up two per cent of our nation’s cannabis industry, and we continue to write legislation that serves corporate interest. We have a long way to go. But this shout out is AMAZING! Thank you!” she said while sharing Melber’s post on Instagram.

Melber played the video of Tosh’s ‘Legalize It’ as he applauded the Biden administration’s move towards decriminalising all past federal marijuana possession offences and pushing to potentially push marijuana off the harsh ‘schedule 1 list’.

Reggae and weed enthusiasts applauded the timing of the decriminalisation moves as Peter Tosh’s earthstrong celebrations will kick off on his birthday, October 19, next week.

“Listen to what he said ‘Legalize it; that’s the best thing you can do. Doctors smoke it, nurses smoke it, judges smoke it, even the lawyer too. Fact check: true,” Melber, MSNBC chief legal correspondent, said.

Social media cheered the move, and prompted new calls to decriminalise pot and sparked discussions about how the drug war targets the poor and minorities.

One social media user tweeted: “Never thought I’d hear the TV news, via Ari Melber, reflect Peter Tosh (‘Legalize It’) in noting that everyone smokes marijuana – ‘even the lawyers, too”.

For decades, charging practices have disproportionately impacted people of colour. Marijuana possession remains—by far—the United States’ most common drug charge. Arrests peaked at more than 800,000 in 2008.

Biden’s pardon, last week, affected low-level marijuana offenders and benefits the roughly 6,500 Americans who have previously been convicted of federal possession. They have served their time or otherwise paid their debt, but having a conviction in their past can block their access to employment, housing, student loans, and other opportunities.

Peter Tosh made a huge mark as an activist and solo artist with ‘Legalize It’. The song was written in response to his ongoing victimisation by the Jamaican police and as a political piece pushing for the legalisation of cannabis, particularly for medical use. The title track was banned when released in Jamaica in 1975. Attempts to suppress the song failed, however, catapulting Tosh to international fame.

The number of people federally convicted in the US of trafficking and other more serious marijuana crimes fell from 7,000 in 2012 to just under 1,000 in 2021. Tosh had once famously predicted that “Herb will become like cigarettes”, in an NME interview in 1978.

That day may already be here.