The NYCLU’s report follows an American Civil Liberties Union study published Monday that found non-whites nationwide are more than four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana despite higher usage rates among whites.
The NYCLU report found that the New York had by far the most marijuana arrests in the nation in 2010, beating even Texas and more than doubling the national average in spite of possession being decriminalized since 1977.
Though simple possession is a violation-level offense, so-called “stop and frisk” searches involve officers asking subjects to empty their pockets, and many caught with marijuana at that point have been subjected to an enhanced charge of displaying the drug in public, a misdemeanor crime.
