The latest episode of South Park highlights the inequalities of the cannabis industry

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone never hesitate to laugh about cannabis. But they got a little more serious in last week's episode, tackling the issue of inequality in the American legal industry.

In the February 9 episode, Randy Marsh, white owner of Tegridy Farms, a fictional cannabis farm that has already appeared in previous episodes, realizes that there is a great deal of inequality in the cannabis industry. Marsh discovers this while attending a conference and sees that some people are boycotting cannabis companies that don't employ people of color.

Marsh therefore invites the only black couple in town, called the Blacks, to taste «a salad of hemp farm fresh from right here in Tegridy». He even takes a self-serving photo of the dinner and his guests to post, saying «Look at our friends,» as shown in an excerpt from the episode entitled «The Big Fix.».

Blacks bluntly asks Marsh if they've been invited solely because they're black, pointing out that they've received numerous dinner invitations over the past year, with hosts invariably taking photos which are then posted on Instagram.

Over the course of the evening, Randy Marsh manages to convince Steve Black, a financial consultant, to come and inspect his farm. But when Black sees himself on a billboard, with Tegridy boasting that «sales are going crazy right now», Black gets pissed off at being used for money and with no real intention of advancing fairness.

Marsh then tries to buy Black's participation (and silence) with a wad of cash from the profits of the new ad. Black agrees to stay, knowing that he's being turned into a commodity.

As Black tries to come up with ideas to improve the business, which are quickly rejected, he realizes that the money just isn't worth it. Fed up with the charade, Black responds by opening his own 100 % black-owned cannabis company, Credigree Weed, right across the street from Tegridy Farms, much to Marsh's dismay and anger.

South Park fiction is based in Colorado, which has legalized recreational cannabis ten years ago and medical cannabis in 2000.