400,000 Marijuana arrest annually
F
or all the support, good will and outcry of injustice by the American Media, The State Department, The NBA, The WNBA, and their fans after the arrest of Brittany Griner (affectionately known as B.G), in Russia, for possessing cannabis cartridges in her luggage, these same entities have been silent, inactive, and disinterested in the tens of thousands arrested for cannabis everyday within the United States. Why is this important? 1. The unprecedented, preferential treatment bestowed upon B.G 2. The draconian remarks made about Russia’s cannabis laws. 3. Most importantly, we know the racial factors that are used to target our fellow citizens for small amounts of cannabis. Here are the numbers: From 2010 to 2018, 6 million individuals were arrested for possession of cannabis; every year roughly 400,000 individuals are arrested for cannabis; Blacks are 3x more likely to be arrested for cannabis than Whites; and Blacks outnumber the arrest of Whites for cannabis in states that have legalized it.
By Ojore McKinnon
If Russia’s cannabis laws are draconian, and the arrest of B.G was racist, then America’s cannabis laws are undoubtedly draconian and racist based on the historical evidence and the Bureau of Justice statistics. Here is what we know: The first federal bureau of narcotics commissioner, Harry Anslinger, who waged the first “War on Drugs” to target and harass Blacks and other racial minorities, advocated for the passage of The Marijuana Tax Act (1937), by propagating a negative stereotype and criminal intent of Marijuana users that he associated with Blacks and other ethnic groups. The Act made possession, recreational use and the sale illegal; anyone found purchasing the flower was fined. Anslinger’s anti drug crusade was used to target, harras, arrest and made blacks into informants, and it was later discovered that he kept a “Musicians and Marijuana” file on Black musicians.
