Pubdate: Wed, 05 Jun 2013
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2013 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Ian Duncan
Referenced: http://mapinc.org/url/KWP0ZYTk (ACLU Report)

MARYLAND FOURTH IN NATION FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION ARRESTS

African Americans almost three times more likely to be arrested, ACLU
says

Maryland arrests people for marijuana possession at one of the highest
rates in the country and spends heavily on those arrests, according to
a new study by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state had the fourth-highest rate of marijuana possession arrests,
the campaign group reported Tuesday. And Maryland spent more than $106
million enforcing its possession laws in 2010, according to the
report. Per person, only the District of Columbia and New York spent
more.

The group's findings are summarized in these charts.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/acrobat/2013-06/191858860-04081414.p

The study also found that African-Americans were almost three times as
likely to be arrested for possession as white people in Maryland. The
statewide number is below the national average, but in Baltimore black
people were more than five times as likely to be arrested as whites,
which is above average, according to the report.

Baltimore police have said they do not target specific racial or
ethnic groups for marijuana arrests.

The Baltimore Sun recently reported on State's Attorneys in Maryland
who are looking at alternatives to full-bore prosecutions of marijuana
cases. They aim to divert first, second and, in some cases, third-time
offenders into programs that let them avoid getting a criminal record.

President Obama's drug czar also recently said at an event in
Baltimore that the administration supports sending more people into
treatment.

But some state legislators have hoped to go further, pushing bills in
the last General Assembly session to legalize or remove the criminal
penalties for marijuana possession. The decriminalization measure,
which the ACLU supported, passed the Senate but died in the House.

"With this momentum and the new report, the ACLU of Maryland will
continue advocating for reform of Maryland's racially biased and
aggressive penalization of marijuana possession, which has torn
communities apart, not improved public safety, not eradicated use, and
has been a colossal waste of money," Sara Love, public policy director
of the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement.
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MAP posted-by: Matt