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With voters in Colorado about to decide whether or not to legalize marijuana in their state this November, a new report is out looking at the impact the criminalization of marijuana has had on the state. The analysis found that between 1986 and 2010 a total of 210,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession, with more than half of the arrest taking place in the last decade.
One of the most significant findings of the research is that the marijuana possession laws in Colorado are still enforced in a very racially biased manner. Despite the fact that young whites in the Colorado are more likely to use marijuana than any other ethnic group, African Americans and Latino made up a disproportionate percentage of those arrested for marijuana possession. A Latino is 1.5 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, while an African-American is more then three as likely to be arrested as the Caucasian. African-Americans make up less than 4 percent of the state’s population but over 10 percent of the marijuana arrests.
The original push to criminalize marijuana was heavily driven by issues of racism and almost a century later the enforcement of marijuana prohibition continues be extremely racially biased. The so called “war on drugs” throughout its history has disproportionately been a war on minorities.
The racially biased manner in which marijuana prohibition is enforced has started to spur many civil rights organizations to endorse marijuana legalization. It is one of the major reasons why the regional chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People decided to endorse Amendment 64 in Colorado.
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African Americans spend decades of their lives, were fire bombed and killed trying to get Civil Rights legislation passed. And when that legislation passed, within a short twenty year period, we had such onerous drug laws that many young black men could NEVER get a decent job – they had that “F” after their name, with “F” meaning felony. Usually for drugs. So in a sense, many black people were right back where they had started from.
But it is not just people of color. Our prisons are operated on a “For Profit” basis. When I researched drug sentencing back in 2000 and 2001, I was horrified to come across the photographs of so many Granmas in wheel chairs, sentenced to fifteen years in prison for the crime of medical marijuana. never mind that they really needed to use it to help them with multiple sclerosis.
The real crime in our drug laws is that they don’t hurt the people at the top. Chances are, if you were born into a top drug cartel, in a Mexican family, and the family cleaned you up and sent you over here for your education, that family has also allowed you to buy yourself a bank. You will be making so much money off laundering the family’s money that you won’t have to worry about the economy for the rest of your life.
And those who are actually pushing large amounts of drugs always have a list of names to “snitch” on when they get busted. So that fifteen year sentence gets pled down to three.
But who would Granma have to snitch on? Especially if she grew the stuff herself.
I slightly disagree….
I think the difference is that blacks are more likely to get jail time or severe sentances while anglos tend to get slaps on the wrist while being what I believe is out right extortion of $$$ by the state.
Some of that is class based more than racial but we know economics arent equal.
The current trend i see with friends is they get deferred adjudication or some other thing on their records but they are still on the hook for all the fees and fines and constant nickel and diming.
That said, Its still cheaper and easier to get caught with pot than to get a DUI. The states milk DUIs for all they are worth. But then there is no one lobbying or pointing out how over the top DUI sentancing is.
210,000 X money it cost to make the bust, take the person to trial, attorney’s fees, prison costs = a billion dollars? millions of dollars? Not to mention the pain and suffering of individuals, families and communities.
What clouds the issue is that there is no distinction between being arrested solely for possession, and being charged with possession while being arrested for another crime. So I would like to see some honest reporting that takes this issue into account.