Although Americans are more receptive to the legalization of marijuana, that acceptance of pot is not reflected in the criminal justice system.
About 61 percent of Americans say marijuana should be legalized, a sentiment that has increased steady in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center. That hasn’t stopped the police from disproportionately targeting Black and Brown people for marijuana arrests. In states that legalized pot, overall arrests declined but racial disparities remain.
In New York City, progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio supported leniency for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Yet 93 percent of the NYPD’s pot possession arrests involved Blacks and Hispanics, according the Police Reform Project, an advocacy group that analyzed arrest data from the first three months of 2018.
“Arrests for marijuana remain in the thousands every year and are now the third most common NYPD arrest,” said the organization’s director Robert Gangi, adding that well-know data shows that Blacks and Whites use and sell marijuana at proportional rates.
Indeed, marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and Whites, yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
For full article, select Source link.
Source: Blacks Disproportionately Arrested For Marijuana Despite Growing Acceptance Of Pot
