USA: Blacks up to 9 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession

In 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a report showing that blacks were 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than whites. Seven years and 33 medical cannabis laws later, the organization shows that racial disparities in cannabis arrests remain virtually unchanged, if not worsened in some states.

Entitled «A tale of two countries: racially targeted arrests in the era of cannabis reform», the report analyzes cannabis possession arrests from 2010 to 2018 using the FBI's crime reporting program. Similar to the previous report, this one concludes that blacks are more likely than whites to be arrested for cannabis possession, despite similar rates of use, in every state.

The #ACLU released a report on #marijuana arrests across U.S., and here's what we found: since 2010, over 6 million mj arrests. 90% for possession. Mj arrests = 43% of all drug arrests, more than any other drug, & more than all violent crime combined. 1/9 https://t.co/OygC37H2XF

- Ezekiel Edwards (@Ezekiel1Edwards) April 21, 2020

In some states, such as Montana and Kentucky, Blacks were more than nine times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession. «Racial disparities in cannabis possession arrests exist across the country, in every state, in counties large and small, urban and rural, rich and poor, and with large and small black populations,» the ACLU writes in its report.

Legalization reduces arrests, but «extreme racial disparities» remain

With the cannabis legalized in 11 states and authorized for medical use in 33, arrest rates for cannabis possession fell by 15% nationally. But the drop seems to have disproportionately benefited one population. Blacks are still more likely than whites to be arrested for cannabis possession nationwide.

Some states where cannabis is legal, like California and Nevada, have seen a decrease in the racial disparity of cannabis arrests, but not all. In Maine and Massachusetts,racial disparities increased in 2018 compared to 2010.

Racial profiling at the root of disparity

Like the 2013 report, this one explores how procedures such as the stop and frisk, in which police search individuals they deem suspicious, are the driving force behind the maintenance of racial disparities. Multiple national surveys have shown how these policies depend on racial profiling. An analysis of New York City revealed that 90% of arrests in 2016 involved people of color. Another in Newark, in New Jersey, found that 73% of these arrests were people of color.

«While cannabis use by whites was de facto legal in much of the country, in black communities police regularly stopped people, particularly young people, in the park, on the street, on the train, on the bus, at school, near the school, near the community center, on the porch or while driving, looking, and usually in vain, for something illegal and, if they found cannabis, arresting and transporting people to jail,» the report states. «Such police harassment not only criminalizes people of color for engaging in an activity in which whites participate with impunity, but it is a means of surveillance and social control that is counterproductive to public safety and community health.»

Cannabis arrests create lifelong obstacles

Getting busted for cannabis isn't just a mark on someone's record but causes «collateral damage». Among them: loss of driver's license, blockage of federal financial aid, denial of public assistance, separation of families in the child welfare system, loss of immigration status and prohibition from participating in the cannabis industry, which is expected to reach 41 billion by 2025 .

The ACLU believes this not only creates «deep and lasting harm to individuals» and stresses the need for legalization efforts to be more inclusive.

«Legalization must be based on racial equity and redress,» Edwards explains. «If states legalize without repairing the past harms of prohibition, or failing to address the current wounds that arrest and conviction records cause, or without ensuring that communities whose economic health has been compromised by prohibition do not benefit from business and tax advantages, this country will have missed a crucial opportunity to right wrongs, level the playing field and avoid perpetuating other forms of inequality in the future.»