Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jun 2013
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2013 The New York Times Company
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Authors: Patrick J. Kennedy, Kevin A. Sabet
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n278/a06.html

MARIJUANA AND MINORITIES

To the Editor:

Re "Racially Biased Arrests for Pot" (editorial, June 16):

By focusing on the racial disparity of marijuana arrests, and then
citing growing public support for full legalization of the drug, your
editorial was shortsighted.

For one, racial disparity can be found across numerous violations -
not just those involving drugs. Second, legalization would exacerbate,
not reduce, racial disparities in both our criminal justice and health
care systems.

We can expect the legal marijuana industry to target minorities in the
same way the alcohol and tobacco industries do today. There are eight
times as many liquor stores in poor communities of color versus
upper-class white areas. Additionally, even though they use drugs at
roughly the same rate as whites, African-Americans are more likely to
need treatment because of reduced access to health care and social
supports. Communities of color will bear the brunt of marijuana
legalization.

What we need are smarter, more equitable policing and treatment
expansion, not an explosion of drug use that will hit vulnerable
communities the hardest.

PATRICK J. KENNEDY

KEVIN A. SABET

Cambridge, Mass., June 16, 2013

The writers, a former member of Congress and a former Obama
administration senior drug policy adviser, respectively, are
co-founders of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt