Chris Goldstein is the host of Active Voice Radio and produced the NORML Foundation Podcasts from 2005-2008 focusing on marijuana law reform.

Essay Text *NOTE- This was originally a blog post and there are slight changes in the voice-over.
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The Racial Bias of Marijuana Prohibition Enforcement

President Obama's half brother was arrested for possession of marijuana, then quickly released in Kenya. Of course if Barack Obama had been arrested for minor possession in his twenties I might never have gotten the chance to vote for him. Despite inhaling with apparent frequency, he was never caught once. He was very lucky.

About 85% of marijuana arrests in places like New York City and Philadelphia look just like George Obama: Young, African-American or Latino men, picked up for simple possession of less than 1 ounce. In 2007 there were almost 15,000 George Obama type arrests in those two cities alone.
 
The discussions of race and racism in America have been prominent in media since the presidential campaign, yet this aspect has been completely overlooked. We can address racist people or attitudes, but what about racist institutions? Many see a form of Institutionalized Racism remaining, even in our modern era, with Marijuana Prohibition Enforcement.

One need only look at the data to see that an overwhelming majority of urban marijuana arrests are young black men. Professor Harry G Levine of Queens College in NYC published his analysis of the data that shows a clear racial bias in enforcement.
http://dragon.soc.qc.cuny.edu/Staff/levine/

Yet African-American, Caucasian and Latino Americans smoke marijuana at about the same rate.  So why are marijuana arrests so disproportionate?

Perhaps it will be the one joint in the pocket of George Obama that will finally move the President to more fully acknowledge the topic. Because a modern approach to addressing racism in this country is hot-air unless we apply the race-test to marijuana enforcement.

There is an opportunity for a structured end to marijuana Prohibition and a stop to this institutionalized racism. Reformers have hinted that a fast-track to regulation could be a new Presidential Commission on Marijuana. This concept would mirror the 1970-72 Shaffer Commission that recommended marijuana be decriminalized and removed from Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act.

The massive social and economic incentives realized with a peaceful end to the War on Marijuana both at home and abroad are rather clear. Chief among them is stopping the arrest of over 870, 000 Americans annually, millions more around the globe, most for simple possession.

Like it or not, our Prohibition has global reach, but so could our reform. We can stop needlessly arresting millions like George Obama.

Cannabis Prohibition will inevitably end, maybe from sheer critical mass as over 40% of the country have self-reported on federal surveys that they have tried marijuana. Or we could have the courage and fortitude to end marijuana prohibition by design.
 
America could close the book on an infamous method of institutional racial bias. Let's keep young people in school, out of jail and perhaps get an economic bailout from marijuana, when we truly need it. President Obama, the tens of millions of American marijuana consumers are looking for the same thing George received this week: Freedom.

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Chris Goldstein is the host of Active Voice Radio and produced the NORML Foundation Podcasts from 2005-2008 focusing on marijuana law reform.

Essay Text *NOTE- This was originally a blog post and there are slight changes in the voice-over.
#
The Racial Bias of Marijuana Prohibition Enforcement

President Obama's half brother was arrested for possession of marijuana, then quickly released in Kenya. Of course if Barack Obama had been arrested for minor possession in his twenties I might never have gotten the chance to vote for him. Despite inhaling with apparent frequency, he was never caught once. He was very lucky.

About 85% of marijuana arrests in places like New York City and Philadelphia look just like George Obama: Young, African-American or Latino men, picked up for simple possession of less than 1 ounce. In 2007 there were almost 15,000 George Obama type arrests in those two cities alone.
 
The discussions of race and racism in America have been prominent in media since the presidential campaign, yet this aspect has been completely overlooked. We can address racist people or attitudes, but what about racist institutions? Many see a form of Institutionalized Racism remaining, even in our modern era, with Marijuana Prohibition Enforcement.

One need only look at the data to see that an overwhelming majority of urban marijuana arrests are young black men. Professor Harry G Levine of Queens College in NYC published his analysis of the data that shows a clear racial bias in enforcement.
http://dragon.soc.qc.cuny.edu/Staff/levine/

Yet African-American, Caucasian and Latino Americans smoke marijuana at about the same rate.  So why are marijuana arrests so disproportionate?

Perhaps it will be the one joint in the pocket of George Obama that will finally move the President to more fully acknowledge the topic. Because a modern approach to addressing racism in this country is hot-air unless we apply the race-test to marijuana enforcement.

There is an opportunity for a structured end to marijuana Prohibition and a stop to this institutionalized racism. Reformers have hinted that a fast-track to regulation could be a new Presidential Commission on Marijuana. This concept would mirror the 1970-72 Shaffer Commission that recommended marijuana be decriminalized and removed from Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act.

The massive social and economic incentives realized with a peaceful end to the War on Marijuana both at home and abroad are rather clear. Chief among them is stopping the arrest of over 870, 000 Americans annually, millions more around the globe, most for simple possession.

Like it or not, our Prohibition has global reach, but so could our reform. We can stop needlessly arresting millions like George Obama.

Cannabis Prohibition will inevitably end, maybe from sheer critical mass as over 40% of the country have self-reported on federal surveys that they have tried marijuana. Or we could have the courage and fortitude to end marijuana prohibition by design.
 
America could close the book on an infamous method of institutional racial bias. Let's keep young people in school, out of jail and perhaps get an economic bailout from marijuana, when we truly need it. President Obama, the tens of millions of American marijuana consumers are looking for the same thing George received this week: Freedom.

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