Why Are Black People Nearly 4 Times as Likely to Be Arrested for Weed?

Millions of people each year are arrested for marijuana possession, but a black person is 3.73 times as likely as a white person to be arrested for the same offense. That, says the American Civil Liberties Union, is a form of racial injustice. Suggested Reading ‘Sinners’ Releases in Black American Sign Language. Here’s What That…

Millions of people each year are arrested for marijuana possession, but a black person is 3.73 times as likely as a white person to be arrested for the same offense. That, says the American Civil Liberties Union, is a form of racial injustice.

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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

So, this week, the organization launchedย The Uncovery, an advocacy tool that lets users take their own local facts (in Pennsylvania, for example, the racial disparity is even more extreme, with black people 5.19 times as likely as whites to be arrested) and turn them into clear graphic messages like the ones below.

Theyโ€™re visual representations of what the ACLU calls โ€œThe war on marijuana in black and white.โ€

1. This first statistic isnโ€™t too surprising.

2. But every 37 seconds? Wow.

3. This is the important part. Itโ€™s not that black people use more marijuana than white people โ€ฆ

4. โ€ฆ Itโ€™s just that the consequences are worse when they do.

5.ย In some parts of the country, the difference is even more dramatic.

6. And, according to the ACLU, these disparities have costsโ€”in ruined lives and actual dollars.

Jenรฉe Desmond-Harris is The Rootโ€™s senior staff writer. Follow her on Twitter.

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