D.C. marijuana study: Blacks far more likely to be arrested than whites, ACLU says - The Washington Post: Even as the first residents trickle into city-sanctioned dispensaries for medical marijuana, the District is locking up more people than ever for marijuana possession, according to an ACLU analysis released Tuesday.
Possession arrests surged more than 60 percent between 2001 and 2010, one of the largest increases in the nation, the civil liberties group found. Arrests of African Americans accounted for much of that increase, raising concerns among community leaders and criminal justice experts about racial profiling by police.
“I travel around the city and I see undercover ‘jump-out’ cars east of the river, and I don’t see them uptown or in Georgetown,” said the Rev. Anthony J. Motley, a prominent Southeast pastor. “We want the laws enforced, but make it equal.”
Based on 10 years of census and FBI crime data, the study found that on average, an African American is nearly eight times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as a white person, even though blacks and whites use marijuana at similar rates.
The report — “The War on Marijuana in Black and White” — says such racial disparities in possession arrests were found in all regions of the country. “In over 96 percent of counties with more than 30,000 people in which at least 2 percent of the residents are black, blacks are arrested at higher rates than whites for marijuana possession,” it says.
