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Marijuana laws discriminate
| Thursday, May 15 2008 5:39 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, May 15 2008 5:40 PM
Recently it was reported that police in New York City arrested more than 39,700 people on marijuana charges last year. In the last decade, nearly 400,000 New Yorkers have been arrested for carrying small amounts of marijuana, the vast majority of them black or brown.
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The figures come from a just-released report by Queens College sociologist Harry Levine and "Breaking the Chains" executive director Deborah Small. According to the report, "Marijuana Arrest Crusade," whites constituted only 15 percent of those arrested, while Hispanics were 31 percent and blacks made up more than half of all pot arrests, with 52 percent.
New York is among the small number of states that decriminalized marijuana possession in the late 1970s. Police get around the law by manufacturing arrests for "possession in public view," according to Levine. Police routinely stop young black and brown men on the streets, force them to empty their pockets, then charge them with the more serious "possession in public view" offense.
Would someone please explain why such a practice serves the greater good?
GERALD SUTLIFF
Bakersfield