Study Finds Blacks More Likely to Be Arrested for Marijuana Possession

Even as research shows that blacks and whites use marijuana at similar rates, a nationwide study of law enforcement records has found that blacks are almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites. 

Between 2001 and 2010, there were 8 million marijuana arrests in the United States, or one pot arrest every 37 seconds at an annual cost of $3.6 billion, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union released Tuesday.
 
In Santa Cruz County, blacks accounted for less than 6 percent of all misdemeanor marijuana arrests reported to the California Department of Justice in 2010. According to the U.S. Census, blacks made up just over 1 percent of Santa Cruz County's population that year 2010. 

By comparison, whites made up 75 percent of the county's population in 2010 but accounted for just over 59 percent of the misdemeanor marijuana arrests. 

Misdemeanor marijuana arrests in Santa Cruz County dropped substantially in 2011, from 491 in 2010 to just 78. While the ACLU study found that half of all drug arrests nationwide were for marijuana possession, low-level pot busts in the county made up about one-third of all misdemeanor drug arrests between 2002 and 2011.  

The city's Measure K, a voter-approved initiative that went into effect more than six years ago, gives non-medical marijuana offenses committed by adults the lowest priority to local law enforcement. However, the state Department of Justice crime statistic show no significant difference in the number of low-level marijuana arrests in the city since Measure K went on the books. 

In Santa Cruz, misdemeanor marijuana arrests peaked at 225 in 2007. There were 157 in 2010 and 16 in 2011, according to the California Department of Justice.