Pubdate: Wed, 05 Jun 2013
Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette (WI)
Copyright: 2013 Green Bay Press-Gazette
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/RINfDfZ0
Website: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/879
Author: Chris Ahmuty

IT'S TIME TO END FAILED WAR ON MARIJUANA

Marijuana has become the drug of choice for police departments
nationwide - a trend that is playing out with serious consequences
here in Brown County.

According to a new report released Tuesday by the American Civil
Liberties Union, police have turned much of their zeal for fighting
the failed War on Drugs toward the enforcement of marijuana laws in
communities across Wisconsin and the country.

In 2010, cops in Wisconsin busted someone for having marijuana once
every 28 minutes. The majority of these arrests are happening in
communities of color. Despite roughly comparable usage rates, blacks
in Wisconsin are nearly six times more likely than whites to be
arrested for marijuana possession.

These racial disparities are particularly bad in Brown County.
Compared to other Wisconsin counties with more than 300,000 residents,
in 2010 Brown had the third-highest rate of racial disparity for
marijuana possession arrests.

Black people in Brown County are more than seven times more likely
than whites to be arrested for the same offense - even though blacks
constitute only 2.2 percent of Brown County's population.

And across Wisconsin, these disparities are only getting worse.
Between 2001 and 2010, racial disparities in marijuana possession
arrests soared more than 150 percent. Only two other states in the
nation had higher increases during this period.

The aggressive enforcement of marijuana possession laws in Wisconsin
needlessly ensnares thousands of people in the criminal justice
system, crowds our jails, diverts precious police resources away from
focusing on serious crimes, and wastes millions of taxpayer dollars.
In 2010 alone, Wisconsin blew as much as $73.1 million enforcing
marijuana laws.

Legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana in Wisconsin would end
racially biased enforcement. Taxing and regulating marijuana would
also save millions of dollars currently spent on enforcement while
raising millions more in revenue, which could be invested in community
and public health programs, including drug treatment.

Barring legalization, state legislators should work with law
enforcement to de-penalize marijuana possession by removing all civil
and criminal penalties. Low-level marijuana possession should be
decriminalized to a civil offense, and prosecutors should focus on
more serious offenses.

Brown County police departments can take action by reforming policing
practices, including ending racial profiling, unconstitutional stops,
frisks, searches, and programs that create incentives for officers to
make low-level drug arrests.

This is an issue of racial justice, fiscal responsibility and common
sense. What's happening in Brown County, all over Wisconsin and across
the nation proves that it's time to end the failed War on Marijuana.

Chris Ahmuty is executive director of the ACLU of Wisconsin.
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