Legalization doesn’t actually fix racial disparity in marijuana arrests

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As more and more states legalize marijuana, arrests related to marijuana generally are on the decline. But people are still being arrested over marijuana despite legalization, and those people are disproportionately Black.

A recent report by the Drug Policy Alliance showed that marijuana arrests are down across the board in states where the drug has been legalized. But for arrests for things like possession under the age of 21, public consumption, and other still-illegal actions related to marijuana, the numbers are still higher for Black people.

Breaking down the numbers

For example, in Alaska, which legalized marijuana in 2014, arrests fell 99 percent for white people and 93 percent for Black people. But the arrest rate still showed a major gap, with Black arrests at 17.7 per 100,000 in 2016 and white arrests at 1.8 per 100,000. That’s almost 10 times as high a rate for Black people as white people.

—Over 60 partygoers arrested for less than an ounce of marijuana—

The story is the same for the nation’s capital, which legalized marijuana in 2014. Again, arrest rates dropped dramatically, but Black people were arrested at almost four times the rate as white people, at a rate of 8 per 100,000 people versus 2 per 100,000.

The Colorado Department of Public Safety also found in a 2016 report that arrests still suffer from racial disparity.

—Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse Obama-era rules on marijuana—

“The decrease in the number of marijuana arrests by race is the greatest for White arrestees (‐51%) compared to Hispanics (‐33%) and African‐Americans (‐25%). The marijuana arrest rate for Whites and Hispanics is comparable, but the marijuana arrest rate for African‐Americans is almost three times that of Whites (348/100,000 for Blacks and 123/100,000 for Whites),” according to the report.

Vox noted that the continued racial disparity can’t be explained away by claiming that Black people use marijuana more, because surveys show that the rates of consumption are the same for Black and white users.

—GOP lawmaker says black people can’t handle marijuana due to ‘their genetics’—

Instead, it’s likely that other factors, like bias from the police or socioeconomic factors, are coming into play.

Whatever the case, Black people are still suffering in the so-called War on Drugs, and we need to demand to be treated better.