Study Finds Blacks More Likely to Be Arrested for Marijuana Possession

Even as research shows that blacks and whites use marijuana at the same rate, a nationwide study of law enforcement records has found that blacks are almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites. 

Between 2001 and 2010, there were 8 million marijuana arrests in the United States, or one pot arrest every 37 seconds at an annual cost of $3.6 billion, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union released Tuesday. 

In 2011, the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department reported 69 marijuana arrests to the California Department of Justice, of which 28, or 40 percent, were blacks. Blacks account for nine percent of the county's population. 

While the ACLU study reported that more than half of all drug arrests nationwide are for marijuana, pot arrests represented less than 10 percent of the drug arrests made by the Contra Costa County Sheriff in 2011.