Vol. 76/No. 7      February 20, 2012

Cops here made more than 50,680 arrests on the lowest-level marijuana charges in 2011, an increase for the seventh straight year and the largest category of arrests overall. According to figures compiled by Queens College professor Harry Levine and the Drug Policy Alliance, the number of these misdemeanor arrests in the last five years surpasses the total for the 23-year period from 1978 to 2001.

Over the last decade, more than half of those arrested for possession of marijuana were Black, although in 2010 they comprised 23 percent of the city’s population. One-third of those arrested were Latino. Just 11 percent were Caucasian, despite representing about 44 percent of the city’s population and surveys showing no significant difference in their use of marijuana compared to Blacks and Latinos.

The skyrocketing arrests are closely connected to the NYPD’s aggressive “stop-and-frisk” policy. A record 600,601 people, 87 percent of whom were Black or Latino, were subjected to arbitrary police stops and searches in 2010. Under state law, police are only supposed to arrest a person for possessing a small amount of marijuana if it is lit or in public view. But the cops routinely order those they stop and frisk to empty their pockets, allowing police to frame up some for having the drug “in public view.”

These arrests create a public record that can affect every aspect of a person’s life—from employment and education to housing.

In September 2011, under public pressure over the racist enforcement of drug laws, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly issued a memo “reminding” cops to stop falsely charging people for possessing small amounts of marijuana removed from their pockets by order of a police officer.

Levine has compiled statistics showing a similar pattern of arrests for marijuana possession targeting African-Americans in California and elsewhere.
 
 
Related articles:
Hundreds protest killing of Black youth by New York cop
Prosecute cops who killed Graham!
Australia: death in police custody sparks protest
Malcolm X: ‘stop and frisk’ an ‘anti-Negro law’  
 
 
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