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Show Notes
Information

- Source: ACLU analysis (graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/) 2020
- norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/racial-disparity-i… (2022)
- What is the ACLU?
- non-profit legal advocacy organization in the US
- Pro: has been instrumental in several cases involving First Amendment rights
- Con: those on the right argue that the ACLU is too progressive and biased in its advocacy
- Facts
- 43% of drug arrests are marijuana arrests (9 out of 10 of these arrests are for possession)
- Black people are 3.6 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite similar
- usage rates (in Montana it is 9.6x and Kentucky it is 9.4)
- this is roughly the same rate as pre-reformation times
- since 2010, racial disparities in marijuana arrests have actually worsened (Maine and Vermont it inreased after legalization)
- consequences of marijuana arrests are life-altering
- parents may lose children in court proceedings
- disabled may lose health care
- immigrants face deportation
- families evicted from public housing
- finding a job becomes difficult
- due to systemic racism in the justice system
- War on Drugs policies disproportionately target people of colour
- racial profiling is to blame
- larger issue (www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-b…)
- "Overrepresentation of Black people in jails is a reflection of disproportionally higher admission rates and longer average lengths of stay for Black individuals than for their White or Hispanic counterparts. And these disparities persist across charge severity, age group, and sex, as well as other metrics"