Blacks Much More Likely To Be Arrested For Marijuana Possession in Point Beach Than Whites: Report

If you're black and get caught smoking marijuana in Point Pleasant Beach, you're much more likely to be arrested in the borough than somewhere else.

That's the conclusion of the ACLU of New Jersey in their report “Unequal & Unfair: New Jersey’s War on Marijuana Users.”

African-Americans account for 23 percent of marijuana arrests in Point Pleasant Beach, even though they make up only one percent of the population. They are almost 32 times more likely to be busted for pot possession, the report states.

But it doesn't matter what color you are, Police Chief Joseph Michigan told app.com.

"If you are smoking marijuana in the borough of Point Pleasant Beach regardless of race or gender, you are going to be arrested because it's against the law in New Jersey," he said.

Racially disparate marijuana arrests are becoming more pronounced in New Jersey, according to the report.

The counties with the biggest disparities - Warren, Hunterdon and Ocean - also have the smallest black populations.

In 2013, blacks accounted for 14 percent of the state population, but made up 36 percent of all pot arrests, according to the report.

“The war on marijuana is a war on marijuana users, and it’s disproportionately a war on black communities,” ACLU-NJ Interim Executive Director Diane Du Brule said in a statement.

The group contends that the data shows why New Jersey should legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

"New Jersey’s marijuana laws are failing people of color,” said Richard Smith, president of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference said in a statement. “Our state’s criminal justice system has placed a disproportionate burden on people of color, and ending marijuana prohibition for adults is a start to lifting it."

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Image: Patch file photo.