Pubdate: Fri, 07 Jun 2013
Source: Austin American-Statesman (TX)
Copyright: 2013 Austin American-Statesman
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Author: Mike Ward

ACLU: POT BUSTS UNFAIR TO BLACKS

Report Says Arrests Are Much Higher for Blacks Than Whites, Though 
Usage Is Comparable.

Blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at far greater rates 
than whites in 12 counties in Texas, even though their rate of drug 
use is generally about the same, a new report says.

The study, released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of 
Texas, identified the jurisdictions - mainly concentrated in East 
Texas - as an example of racism in enforcement of pot laws. ACLU 
officials were sending letters to the law enforcement jurisdictions 
warning that the targeting of blacks needs to stop.

Officials in several of the jurisdictions cited in the ACLU report 
said they couldn't comment because they hadn't seen the report, but 
they denied any racial targeting. They wouldn't comment for attribution.

"The report by the ACLU shows that racism remains alive, well and 
entrenched in Texas," said Terri Burke, executive director of the 
ACLU of Texas.

"This data is clear evidence that police target blacks for marijuana 
use. And nowhere in Texas is this practice as prevalent as in a 
corridor stretching from Houston, up through East Texas, into the 
Dallas-Fort Worth area."

Blacks and whites use marijuana at roughly equal rates, but blacks 
are 2.3 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana 
possession in Texas, the report found.

"The worst offenders, the Van Zandt and Cooke County sheriff's 
departments, are arresting blacks at more than 20 times the rate of 
whites," according to the ACLU.

Those counties posted the first- and fourth-highest arrest rates of 
blacks over whites for marijuana possession in the nation, according 
to the report.

According to the ACLU, the report is the first to examine state and 
county marijuana arrest rates nationally by race.

The findings show that, while there were pronounced racial 
disparities in marijuana arrests 10 years ago, they have grown 
significantly worse nationwide in the past decade. Texas counties 
cited by the ACLU where blacks are more likely than whites to be 
busted for marijuana possession:

Van Zandt: 34.7 times more likely Cooke: 24.7 Chambers: 9.3 Hopkins: 
8.4 Waller: 6.5 Orange: 6.5 Rockwall: 6.1 Titus: 5.7 Angelina: 5.0 
Rusk: 4.7 Grayson: 4.3 Upshur: 4.2
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom