I do believe you've hit the nail on the head there. It seems one of the big initial reasons for calling cannibis marijuana and criminalization was part of racist legislation against Hispanics.
'Numerous accounts say that "marijuana" came into popular usage in the U.S. in the early 20th century because anti-cannabis factions wanted to underscore the drug's "Mexican-ness."' [1]
They are the major source of drug crime. We make sure to arrest more minorities for drug offences, therefore they must be the source. Ignore any spurious "facts" that show drug use and incarceration rates don't match! It must be the brown people.
See also Opium and Chinese people at the turn of the 20th century. US has a long history of drugs policy being tightly integrated with racial politics.
'Numerous accounts say that "marijuana" came into popular usage in the U.S. in the early 20th century because anti-cannabis factions wanted to underscore the drug's "Mexican-ness."' [1]
1: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/14/201981025...