Report: Marijuana Arrests Racially Biased

Written By B.A. Morelli

A new report from the American Civicl Liberties Union finds that law enforcement officers are much more likely to arrest blacks than whites on marijuana charges in the United States, even though usage rates are nearly the same across races.

And, Iowa is among the worst offenders, according to the report "Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests." Blacks in Iowa are 8.34 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, according to the report. Blacks in Minnesota, Illinois and the District of Columbia are in the same boat. Nationally blacks are 3.7 more times likely to be arrested on marijuana charges. The figures were based on arrests per 100,000. In Iowa the white arrest rate is 174 per 100,000, while the black arrest rate is 1,489 per 100,000, according to the ACLU's War on Marijuana report.

According to the ACLU’s original analysis, marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88 percent were for simply having marijuana. Nationwide, the arrest data revealed one consistent trend: significant racial bias. Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana. 
The report, based on data from the FBI and Census Bureau, says there is a money-and-resource-sucking "war on marijuana" in the United States. Despite being a priority for police departments, the report states, the effort against marijuana has not only been unsuccessful but has "needlessly" funneled thousands of people into the criminal justice system.  

“These are devastating numbers,” Randall Wilson, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa, told the Des Moines Register. He noted that Iowa criminal justice advocates have long pointed out racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates of blacks in Iowa. About one-quarter of Iowa’s prison population is black, even though blacks represent only 3.1 percent of the state’s general population.