Legalization Ends Discrimination in Marijuana Enforcement

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—October 3, 2014.

By: Malik Burnett, M.D., M.B.A.

Reports that African Americans in the nation’s capital are eight times more likely to be arrested as whites, despite relatively equal marijuana use, were the catalyst for the city’s Council to act earlier this year by passing the most progressive marijuana decriminalization legislation to date.

However, a quick examination of the other 18 states that have decriminalized marijuana reveals that discrimination persists after decriminalization. In the early days of decriminalization here in D.C., roughly 77 percent of the marijuana possession tickets are being issued in communities of color.

This problem cannot be solved by piecemeal policy changes. D.C. residents understand this. A recent poll found that 65 percent of District voters are ready to legalize recreational marijuana use. In November they will have the opportunity to do just that with ballot initiative 71, which will allow residents of the District over the age of 21 to possess up to two ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants. This vote represents a real chance to take action beyond the thus far limited efforts of politicians.

Decriminalization laws that lessen criminal charges to civil fines will not protect the disadvantaged living in poor communities who cannot afford to be perpetually fined. Decriminalization laws also do not go far enough in reducing incarceration. Too many people, especially black men, have a marijuana conviction or arrest on their record that subjects them to discrimination employment, funding for education, access to public housing, and even the right to vote.

Finally, decriminalization laws do not protect black people from being singled out for stigmatization or having their character smeared over marijuana use. Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown are the two most-prominent examples of this phenomenon. Two African American teenagers with no felony records were suddenly being depicted as menacing threats. Marijuana use, something over one-third of Americans have admitted to, was exploited to besmirch the character of these black men.

The evidence is abundantly clear that the prohibition of marijuana perpetuates the mass incarceration and discrimination that sadly define criminal justice policy in the United States. By passing Initiative 71 at the ballot box, and removing low level possession of marijuana from the criminal justice system, District residents will make it clear to the Council they are serious about broader marijuana reform.

The success of Initiative 71 would embolden D.C. Council members to act on the will of voters by taking up the tax and regulate bill, submitted by Council member David Grosso earlier this year. This legislation should be amended to include provisions such as a marijuana records sealing, prohibition of pre-employment drug testing for marijuana, a regulatory system that is inclusive of communities previously harmed by the policies of prohibition, and tax revenue earmarked for the redevelopment of those same communities. This is what marijuana legalization in a racial justice context looks like.

Washington D.C. has historically been on the cutting edge of marijuana reform, passing medical marijuana at the ballot in 1998. In 2014, the District once again finds itself with the opportunity to be a vanguard for marijuana policy and a model for the nation. It is time to take marijuana off the streets and out of the schools and put it in a regulated environment with age restrictions so young people cannot have access to it. Legalization and regulation will improve public safety while reducing racial injustice and focusing police resources on serious and violent crime.

At the federal level, the White House and the House of Representatives, on five separate occasions, have supported of marijuana policy reform as a “state’s rights” issue; thus the District of Columbia, and the will of its citizens, should not be subject to congressional discrimination on this matter.

Marijuana law reform is affirmation from Americans that they acknowledge the war on drugs has failed miserably and that it is long past time to put these discriminatory practices to an end.

Malik Burnett, M.D., M.B.A., works at the Drug Policy Alliance’s Washington D.C. office.

This piece was originally published in the Washington Informer: http://m.washingtoninformer.com/news/2014/oct/01/legalization-ends-discrimination-pot-enforcement/