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On what may be the last day of testimony in the trial of George Zimmerman, who is charged with killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin on a rainy Florida evening in early 2012, jurors are expected to hear Wednesday about the small amount of marijuana found in the teenager's blood 鈥� evidence that allows the defense to argue that pot-smoking could have contributed to a deadly encounter that eventually made news around the world.聽

In a case in which racial tensions and contention over America's gun culture provide a backdrop, the marijuana testimony would prominently introduce another cultural flash point concerning drug use and perceptions of drug users, especially male African-American drug users.聽

鈥淧ot before shot,鈥� a Drudge Report headline proclaimed, after Florida circuit court Judge Debra Nelson reversed a previous ruling on Monday, agreeing that the defense can present to the six-woman jury testimony concerning Trayvon鈥檚 marijuana use.

Medical examiner Shiping Bao testified last week that he had concluded that the amount of THC 鈥� the psychoactive compound in marijuana 鈥� in Trayvon鈥檚 body 鈥渃ould have no effect or some effect鈥� on his behavior the night of the encounter with Mr. Zimmerman.

With Judge Nelson鈥檚 reversal,聽the defense has an opening to try to cast聽the 17-year-old's marijuana use as a moral marker 鈥� to present聽Trayvon not as a baby-faced boy but as a more menacing and impulsive character who may have deserved what he got for punching and beating another citizen simply trying to protect his neighborhood.

In that way, say criminologists watching the trial, racial stereotypes around drug use 鈥� the black, hoodie-wearing pot smoker as menacing, the white pot smoker as hapless but harmless 鈥� could blur the jury鈥檚 impressions about what happened the night of the fatal shooting.

鈥淭here are only two possibilties regarding drugs: One is that that people are making the claim that marijuana made Trayvon Martin violent, which would be more legitimate if I鈥檇 ever once heard of stoners being violent,鈥� says Alex Tepperman, a University of Florida doctoral student whose paper "Half-Baked: Weed, Race and the Demonization of Trayvon Martin" was presented at a conference in April. 鈥淭he other claim is that marijuana use makes Travyon Martin immoral and suspicious, and should bring up questions about other activities in his life. In other words, who are we to attack Zimmerman for being suspicious of this morally loose young person?鈥�

Trayvon鈥檚 parents and the state of Florida say Zimmerman exhibited 鈥渋ll will鈥� toward Trayvon, which colored his decision to use his gun to kill the teenager, whom he had followed and confronted, believing he was a potential criminal. Travyon was returning on Feb. 26, 2012, to the home where his dad was staying in Sanford, Fla.鈥檚 Retreat at Twin Lakes, toting a bag of Skittles and an Arizona iced tea.

On trial for second-degree murder, Zimmerman told police that he shot Trayvon in self-defense after the teenager slugged him in the nose and beat his head on the sidewalk. 鈥淭rayvon Martin caused his own death,鈥� defense attorney Mark O鈥橫ara said Friday.

Florida self-defense law says a 鈥渞easonable鈥� person can defend himself with deadly force if he fears for his life or great bodily harm. The state says Trayvon is the one who had the right to self-defense after being pursued by an armed stranger.

Nelson has barred most testimony about Trayvon鈥檚 social media activities, which included diatribes about pot smoking and street fighting.

The extent to which those interests mingled, however, has been the subject of widespread Internet debate, at times straying from the scientific knowledge of marijuana.

The White House鈥檚 stance against marijuana legalization, for example, leans on a tough Office of National Drug Control Policy report on the dangers of the drug, but that report does not make the case that marijuana increases violence. Nearly two-thirds of Americans ages 21 to 54 have used marijuana at least once.

鈥淭he issue boils down to whether the Zimmerman jurors 鈥� see that there鈥檚 absolutely no credible proof that marijuana use in and of itself induces violent behavior in anyone,鈥� writes Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of 鈥淎merica on Trial: The Slaying of Trayvon Martin,鈥� in a New York Daily News blog. If the prosecution can鈥檛 make the case that Trayvon himself was not violence-prone, he adds, the marijuana testimony could 鈥渂olster the terrifying thought the defense has worked overtime to implant, and that鈥檚 that marijuana use made Martin a legitimate target.鈥�

Eyewitnesses have disagreed over who had the upper hand in a struggle when Zimmerman fired nearly point blank at Trayvon鈥檚 chest. State prosecutors contend that Zimmerman was a wanna-be cop on a mission, pursuing, confronting, and potentially throwing the first punch at Trayvon, and then shooting the youth 鈥渂ecause he wanted to,鈥� in prosecutor Richard Mantei鈥檚 words.

On Tuesday, a pathologist hired by the defense testified that the evidence matched Zimmerman鈥檚 version of events, that he was on his back being beaten when he fired.

"This is consistent with Mr. Zimmerman's account that Mr. Martin was over him, leaning forward at the time he was shot," Dr. Vincent DiMaio, the former chief medical examiner in San Antonio, told the jury.

The prosecution took nine days to lay out its case. Now, the defense is using a two-pronged strategy to persuade jurors that they can鈥檛 convict Zimmerman. The first is that Trayvon attacked Zimmerman. The second is that Zimmerman had cause for alarm to follow Trayvon, given how the teen was acting. Zimmerman told a police dispatcher that Trayvon was acting like he was 鈥渙n drugs or something鈥� as he walked through the neighborhood. In that conversation, Zimmerman can also be heard saying that 鈥渢hese [expletive] punks" always get away 鈥� a phrase that the prosecution says proves that Zimmerman 鈥渢hought he knew Trayvon Martin鈥� to be a criminal, although the teenager had done nothing wrong.

Given Zimmerman鈥檚 decisionmaking, he has become a stand-in for broader attitudes in society about race and crime, says Mr. Tepperman.

鈥淲e鈥檝e constructed this idea of very menacing black drug users, and there鈥檚 no good reason why there should be this cultural divide between the two,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is how racism gets submerged in our society, and how it becomes endemic, because you can use marijuana to label someone. You can say, 鈥榃ell, it鈥檚 not that he鈥檚 black, it鈥檚 that he鈥檚 black and young and I can imagine him being involved in no-good activities.鈥� That鈥檚 an essentially racialized argument, but it can be made by people who would never self-identify as racist.鈥�

Whether such stereotypes would play to Zimmerman鈥檚 benefit with the jury is uncertain, argues Doug Keene, a well-known jury consultant in Austin, Texas.

鈥淲hat they鈥檙e trying to do is create a threatening character, and you鈥檝e had testimony 鈥� that included the specter, if not the evidence, of Trayvon having really been extremely violent toward Mr. Zimmerman,鈥� says Mr. Keene, a well-known jury consultant in Austin, Texas. 鈥淭hen the question becomes, why would he do such a thing, and part of the answer [the defense] is going to offer is that Trayvon was wasted.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about creating a picture, developing a story that becomes more vivid for the jury,鈥� adds Keene. 鈥淭he prosecution鈥檚 response about [the toxicology report] needs to be, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 your point?鈥� The reality for a lot of high school kids is that even the ones that sing in the choir and volunteer at the nursing home also smoke weed.鈥�