According to an American Civil Liberties Union report, “On average, an African American person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though black and white people use marijuana at similar rates.”
This video narrated by an artist named Jay-Z describes the war on drugs and its impact on our society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSozqaVcOU8
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) reported in 2018, there were almost 700,000 marijuana arrests. These arrests accounted for more than 43% of all drug arrests. In fact, in 2018, police made more marijuana arrests than for all violent crimes combined, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A specific example of this harsh relationship between the arrests of African-Americans and the misconstrued drug war takes place in Travis County, Texas. According to a Texas Criminal Justice Coalition report, “Between 2013 and 2017, the number of low-level Possession of a Controlled Substance (POCS) cases in Travis County increased by 43 percent, and Travis County courts saw a 66 percent increase in the overall number of new felony drug possession cases.”
Similar to policing trends across the country, African-American residents in Travis County were by far the most overrepresented racial group arrested for POCS. From 2017-2018, African-American individuals made up 29.4 percent of possession cases, despite comprising only 8.9 percent of the county’s population.
Furthermore, Austin and Travis County, Texas, continue to use drug enforcement practices that harm communities, worsen racial disparities, and increase the health and financial consequences that people most directly impacted must suffer. Further, local use of police as the primary means of enforcing harsh drug laws consistently fails to achieve its stated goal of reducing drug activity. Travis County residents, particularly in areas most heavily populated by people of color, have seen time and again that current practices are not working.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), here are a few of the key statistics nationally that show the disparity of the current state of policing in America.
Key Statistics:
Percent of African-Americans in the general U.S. population: 13% +
Percent of people in prison or jail who are African-American: 40% +
The incarceration rate for African-American vs white Americans: 2,306 vs. 450 per 100,000 +
The arrest rate for African American vs white Americans: 6,109 vs. 2,795 per 100,000. +
Number of arrests of African Americans in 2018: 2.8 million +
Percent of people on probation or parole who are African-American: 30% +
Despite these outrageous statistics, there is progress being made within the justice system. The combined state and federal imprisonment rate of 419 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2019 was the lowest imprisonment rate since 1995, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 2020. The imprisonment rate in 2019 marked a 17% decrease from 2009 and a 3% decrease from 2018, and it marked the 11th consecutive annual decrease. The imprisonment rate—the portion of U.S. residents who are in prison—is based on prisoners sentenced to more than one year. The imprisonment rate rose 23% from 1995 to its peak in 2007 and 2008 (506 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents in both years). It then fell back below the 1996 level (which was 427 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents) in 2019. Across the decade from 2009 to 2019, the imprisonment rate fell 29% among African-American residents, 24% among Hispanic residents, and 12% among white residents. In 2019, the imprisonment rate of African American residents was the lowest it has been in 30 years, since 1989. At year-end 2019, there were 1,096 sentenced African American prisoners per 100,000 African American residents, 525 sentenced Hispanic prisoners per 100,000 Hispanic residents, and 214 sentenced white prisoners per 100,000 white residents in the U.S.
As the United States moves away from the criminalization of cannabis, giving rise to a major new industry, there remains the fundamental injustice inflicted upon those who have suffered criminal convictions and the consequences of those convictions. Recommendations at a glance for Federal, state, and local governments according to an ACLU research report entitled A Tale of Two Countries Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform include:
Legalizing marijuana use and possession for persons 21 or older through a system of taxation, licensing, and regulation, and urges that legalization repair the harms that prohibition has wreaked on communities of color.
Not replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of fines, fees, and arrests
Granting clemency to or resentencing anyone incarcerated on a marijuana conviction and expunge all marijuana convictions
Eliminate collateral consequences that result from marijuana arrests or convictions
Ensure new legal markets benefit and are accessible to communities most harmed by the War on Drugs
Ensure marijuana possession and other low-level offense arrests are not included in performance measures for federal funding
Regarding Law Enforcement Agencies the ACLU research report entitled A Tale of Two Countries Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform recommends:
Ending the enforcement of marijuana possession and distribution
Ending racial profiling by police
Eliminating consent searches
Ending the practice of using raw numbers of stops, citations, summons, and arrests as a metric to measure productivity and efficacy
Developing systems for the routine collection of accurate data on a range of police practices
Investing in nonpunitive programs and community-based services and divest from law enforcement
Developing, secure, and implement strong, independent, and effective oversight mechanisms for local law enforcement
The question no longer is whether the United States of America should legalize marijuana — it should — or whether marijuana legalization is about racial equity — it is. It is also no longer about whether all levels of government should redirect resources away from prosecution of marijuana and toward public health investments and community collaborations — they should. Rather, the question is: When states legalize, how can they do so through a racial justice lens to address the plethora of injustices that have been selectively aimed at African American and Latino communities for decades? These wrongdoings include not only arrests, incarceration, and lifelong criminal convictions, but also the loss of jobs, housing, financial aid eligibility, child custody, and, in every state, African American people are arrested at higher rates than white people for marijuana possession.
In conclusion, awareness of the wrongs that have been committed, social cooperation, and an understanding of how we can grow as a society are the tools we can use to progress. We can suspend our judgment of others through understanding, empathy, and radical compassion. For instance, if anyone can profit and build wealth in the legal cannabis industry, those individuals must also work to release and rebuild the lives of those who have suffered from cannabis criminalization. Through intervention, advocacy, and awareness campaigns we can work to redefine the past and halt the furthering harms of these unjust laws and policies. The Last Prisoner Project policy values state “that anyone profiting from or freely engaging in the legal cannabis industry has a moral imperative to work towards restorative justice. No one should remain incarcerated or continue to suffer the collateral consequences of prohibition and the War on Drugs which has and continues to disproportionately impact communities of color.” In honor of Black History Month wouldn’t it be nice if we all had more empathy for one another?
If you feel compelled to act you can write to prisoners still incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes through the Last Prisoner Project policy. The Last Prisoner project invites supporters to send some good wishes to those currently incarcerated for cannabis. This past year has been incredibly difficult for prisoners with COVID restricting access to visitations and frequent lockdowns restricting internet access so handwritten letters can go a long way. Sending a letter to an incarcerated cannabis prisoner reminds them that they have not been forgotten.
You can also call your local or state representatives in the Senate about the current cannabis legislation being discussed. You can find information about how to contact your elected officials here. These issues should be a topic of discussion as we look toward the upcoming sessions. Please continue to educate yourself and help end the stigma.
Works Cited
Carson, Ann E. “Prisoners in 2019 .” Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 2020, www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p19.pdf.
Initiative, Prison Policy. “Drug Policy.” Drug Policy- Analysis of Drug Policy and Its Effects on the Prison System, Prison Policy Initiative , 2020, www.prisonpolicy.org/research/drug_policy/.
Last Prisoner Project - Cannabis Reform Nonprofit, 2020, www.lastprisonerproject.org/.
A Tale of Two Countries Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, American Civil Liberties Union, 2020, www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/042020-marijuanareport.pdf.
“U.S. IMPRISONMENT RATE AT ITS LOWEST SINCE 1995.” Office of Justice Programs , Department of Justice, 22 Oct. 2020, www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/p19_pr.pdf .