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As Cannabis Legalization Seems Inevitable, Maryland Cannabis Advocates Team Up with Community Leaders to Ensure Fairness and Equity 

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MARYLAND: A newly filed Super Political Action Committee (PAC) is focusing its advocacy on responding to politicians who’ve prevented restorative justice to families and communities harmed by the war on drugs. Uplift Action Fund, Inc., led by Kevin Ford, Jr, a veteran of cannabis reform, is organizing supporters to ensure that Maryland’s cannabis legalization is not only fair and equitable, but most importantly, just.

“We must all do our part to ensure that legalization passes this November,” Ford says. “Subjective policing has traumatized black communities across the country for generations as a result of cannabis criminalization. Right now, all eyes are on Maryland. This is our chance to take the lead on a national issue by collaborating to develop a solution aimed at building an equitable and inclusive industry, with the goal of repairing the harm done to the most affected communities.”

According to the ACLU, Black people in Maryland are still 2.1 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people, despite consuming at the same rate.

Uplift Action Fund, Inc. (UAF), a 501(c)4 organization, is implementing a two-phase approach to ensure restorative justice for the citizens of Maryland who have been most harmed and influence federal and state policy that legalizes adult-use cannabis.

Phase 1 is running a Get Out The Vote campaign to encourage Black voters to vote in support of cannabis legalization during the general election. The PAC is focusing its efforts on four jurisdictions: Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George’s County, and Charles County.

Uplift is being advised by Baker Strategy Group, led by Rushern L. Baker, III, a former Prince George’s County Executive and two-time candidate for governor.

“Even as Maryland’s medical cannabis industry continues to struggle with minority participation, the legalization of adult-use cannabis is a critical step toward righting the injustices of the war on drugs,” said Baker, a co-sponsor on the state’s first-ever medical cannabis bill nearly two decades ago. “This is an extremely important issue. These communities hardest hit need to be recompensed in some way from legalization, but in order for that to happen, we must fully engage ourselves in the legislative process. That means getting out to vote for question 4 and other offices up and down the ballot while remaining engaged with organizations like Uplift after the election to make certain the new laws are just.”

Many citizens are unsure of what voting for legalization actually means for them and their families. Once the referendum passes, certain measures will go into effect legalizing the possession of cannabis by an adult 21 and over, but lawmakers will still need to pass additional legislation the following session to establish a legally regulated cannabis marketplace.

Following Election Day,  Uplift’s focus will transition to its phase 2 priorities, which are to:

  1. educate our community about what legalization means for them,

  2. implement an education and business development training program for minorities and women interested in “cannapreneurship” within all sectors of the industry,

  3. provide reentry services to Marylanders that are released from the criminal justice system so that they may have pathways to employment within the legal cannabis industry, and

  4. provide advocacy services aimed at ensuring Maryland sets a national standard for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in a legalized cannabis market.

Among the group’s initial supporters and advisors is Hope Wiseman, owner of Mary and Main medical cannabis dispensary in Capitol Heights, MD. “As one of the few Black-owned cannabis businesses in the State, I understand the woes that Black entrepreneurs, and small operators, face in the cannabis industry,” said Wiseman, who is the youngest Black woman to own and operate a dispensary in the country. “As Maryland rolls out its legal, regulated industry, it’s imperative that our community sticks together to ensure that small operators not only have equal access to opportunities but more importantly have the resources necessary to start-up and sustain within the industry.”

ACLU of Nevada Gets Blunt: Schedule 1 listing for Cannabis Is Unconstitutional

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NEVADA:  State law — and the will of Nevada voters — is clear that cannabis is legal to possess and use for medicinal and recreational purposes. Yet state agencies, including the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, continue to list it as a Schedule I substance alongside meth, heroin, and cocaine.

Instead of treating cannabis like alcohol and removing it from the state’s list of controlled substances, Nevada is ignoring its state Constitution and the will of the people. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Foundation on Friday filed a writ with the intent of finally ending the practice. The case, CEIC v. Nevada Board of Pharmacy, was filed in Clark County court. 

For cannabis to be classified as a Schedule I substance, the Board of Pharmacy must find that it has no accepted medical use in treatment or it cannot be safely distributed to the public. However, the Nevada Constitution explicitly allows for the “use by a patient, upon the advice of his physician, of a plant of the genus Cannabis for the treatment or alleviation of cancer, glaucoma, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome… or other chronic or debilitating medical conditions”.

The ACLU of Nevada is representing the Cannabis Equity and Inclusion Community, a nonprofit organization focused on civic engagement and policies that will make opportunities real and attainable for communities and people that were disenfranchised by the failed drug war, and an individual who was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance for possessing marijuana after it was legalized both for medical and recreational uses.

ACLU of Nevada Attorney Sadmira Ramic said:

“Police departments and district attorneys in Nevada have wasted an immense amount of taxpayer dollars by seeking criminal convictions and penalties for small-time cannabis possession. Despite Nevada voters’ explicit desire to have cannabis treated like alcohol, it is readily apparent that they are treated very differently. The failure to remove cannabis as a Schedule I substance not only goes against voters’ will, but it violates the Nevada Constitution which unequivocally recognizes cannabis’s medical value.”

Cannabis Equity and Inclusion Community Founder A’Esha Goins said:

“We’re consistently fighting for policy changes that will ensure freedom for Black and Latinx people that choose cannabis as a treatment. It’s disheartening that we are four years after legalization and we’re still dealing with policies that can derail people’s lives over cannabis possession. The classification of cannabis as a Schedule I substance must be stopped.”

HISTORY OF CANNABIS DECRIMINALIZATION IN NEVADA

For decades, the failed War on Drugs harmed our communities, but Nevadans have taken significant steps to decriminalize cannabis for medical and recreational uses.

In 2000, Nevada voters ratified an amendment to the Nevada Constitution to legalize cannabis for medical use. The amendment specifically recognized the medical value of cannabis.

In 2016, Nevadans voted to legalize possession of cannabis for recreational purposes. The law was passed because people no longer wanted resources to be used in prosecuting cannabis offenses and wanted it to be regulated in the same manner as alcohol.

Representatives Blumenauer and Lee Urge President Biden to Pardon Federal Cannabis Offenses

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:  Today, U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, led 35 lawmakers in urging President Joe Biden to use executive clemency to pardon individuals convicted of federal cannabis offenses.

“Until the day that Congress sends you a marijuana reform bill to sign, you have a unique ability to lead on criminal justice reform and provide immediate relief to thousands of Americans,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent to the president. “We urge you to grant executive clemency for all non-violent cannabis offenders.”

The lawmakers stressed that discriminatory cannabis policies have perpetuated systemic racism in America for decades, citing a 2020 report issued by the ACLU that found that Black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite comparable usage rates.

“During your previous tenure at the White House, President Obama understood that decades of harsh and discriminatory federal drug laws unfairly trapped minority individuals and communities in cycles of despair. That is why he used the tools of justice to grant clemency for 1,927 individuals convicted of federal crimes,” the lawmakers continued. “Your Administration has the power to expand on end this legacy and issue a general pardon to all former federal, non-violent cannabis offenders in the U.S and trigger resentencing for all those who remain federally incarcerated on non-violent, cannabis-only offenses for activity now legal under state laws.”

In their letter to President Biden Thursday, the lawmakers also noted that their request is not a partisan issue. Every president since George H.W. Bush has exercised their pardoning power for cannabis offenses.

This push from lawmakers comes after Americans in five more states voted overwhelmingly to liberalize their cannabis policies during the November elections and the U.S. House of Representatives took the historic step of passing the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act in December.

“President Biden’s leadership on issuing pardons to nonviolent federal marijuana offenders would demonstrate a down payment on his campaign promise to prioritize criminal justice reform and similarly inspire similar justice-oriented actions in a non-partisan fashion around the country,” said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal. “Shortly after President Biden’s election, the House of Representatives voted to end the federal prohibition of marijuana. Now in a new legislative session, President Biden should follow their lead and move to immediately provide relief to those who continue to suffer from a criminal record for a nonviolent federal marijuana offense. We are tremendously grateful for the leadership of the Cannabis Caucus, particularly Representatives Barbara Lee and Earl Blumenauer, as they tirelessly lead this ongoing but hopefully soon to be finished fight for marijuana justice nationwide.”

In addition to Blumenauer and Lee, the letter was signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and Reps. Nydia Velázquez, Adriano Espaillat, Bonnie Watson Coleman, James McGovern, Jan Schakowsky, Jesús “Chuy” García, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rashida Tlaib, Danny K. Davis, Alan Lowenthal, Alcee Hastings, David Trone, Mark Pocan, Carolyn Maloney, Peter Welch, Dwight Evans, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Jared Huffman, Pramila Jayapal, Ed Perlmutter, Mondaire Jones, Zoe Lofgren, Ro Khanna, J. Luis Correa, Brenda Lawrence, Charlie Crist, Dean Phillips, Jamaal Bowman, Steven Horsford, Henry “Hank” Johnson, Jake Auchincloss, Raúl Grijalva, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

A PDF copy of the letter is available here.

NEW ACLU REPORT: Despite Marijuana Legalization Black People Still Almost Four Times More Likely To Get Arrested

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A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES: RACIALLY TARGETED ARRESTS IN THE ERA OF MARIJUANA REFORM DETAILS MILLIONS OF RACIALLY TARGETED MARIJUANA ARRESTS MADE BETWEEN 2010-2018

NEW YORK: The American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report showing that Black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession despite comparable marijuana usage rates. Additionally, although the total number of people arrested for marijuana possession has decreased in the past decade, law enforcement still made 6.1 million such arrests over that period, and the racial disparities in arrest rates remain in every state.

The report, A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, details marijuana possession arrests from 2010 to 2018, and updates our unprecedented national report published in 2013, The War on Marijuana in Black and White. The disturbing findings of this new research show that despite several states having reformed marijuana policy over the last decade, far too much has remained unchanged when it comes to racial disparities in arrests.

Key findings include:

  • Law enforcement made more than 6.1 million marijuana-related arrests form 2010-2018. In 2018 alone, there were almost 700,000 marijuana arrests, which accounted for more than 43 percent of all drug arrests. In 2018, law enforcement made more marijuana arrests than for all violent crimes combined.
  • Despite legalization in a number of states, it is not clear that marijuana arrests are trending downward nationally. Arrest rates have actually risen in the past few years, with almost 100,000 more arrests in 2018 than 2015.
  • In every state, and in over 96 percent of the counties examined, Black people were much more likely to be arrested than white people for marijuana possession. Overall, these disparities have not improved. On average, a Black person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates. In 10 states, Blacks were more than five times more likely to be arrested.
  • In states that legalized marijuana, arrest rates decreased after legalization, however racial disparities still remained.

A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform comes at a time when the criminal legal system is overwhelmed by the public health crisis presented by COVID-19 that demands expedited decarcercal action to safeguard the lives of those incarcerated in and employed by jails and prisons. The reforms recommended in this report provide a roadmap for reducing marijuana arrests and criminalization as governors, prosecutors, judges, and other stakeholders across the country grapple with the harms presented by the public health crisis and take steps to release people from jails and prisons.

“Many state and local governments across the country continue to aggressively enforce marijuana laws, disproportionately targeting Black communities,” said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU and one of the primary authors of the report. “Criminalizing people who use marijuana needlessly entangles hundreds of thousands of people in the criminal legal system every year at a tremendous individual and societal cost. As a matter of racial justice and sound public health policy, every state in the country must legalize marijuana with racial equity at the foundation of such reform.”

To combat the racial disparities rampant in marijuana-related arrests, the ACLU is calling not only for an end to racialized policing, but also for full legalization of marijuana use and possession and specific measures to ensure legalization efforts are grounded in racial justice. This includes pressing for passage of the MORE Act, which  aims to correct historical injustices of the failed War on Drugs that has terrorized Black communities by decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level, reassessing marijuana convictions, and investment in economically disadvantaged communities.

The full report is available here.

 

ACLU Pennsylvania: Blacks Eight Times More Likely Than Whites To Be Arrested For Marijuana Possession

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PENNSYLVANIA: African Americans in Pennsylvania are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession offenses than are Caucasians, according to an analysis of statewide arrest data by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU Pennsylvania report reviewed arrest data for all 67 counties from 2010 to 2016. Excluding Philadelphia, which decriminalized cannabis possession offenses in 2014, adult marijuana possession arrests increased 33 percent during this time period – at a cost of $225.3 million to taxpayers. Black adults were 8.2 times more likely than their white counterparts to be arrested for possessing marijuana. In 2010, African Americans in Pennsylvania were 6.5 percent times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession crimes.

Recent analyses from other states, such as New Jersey and Virginia, have similarly identified racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests. Nationwide, African Americans are approximately four times more likely than whites to be arrested for possessing marijuana, despite members of both ethnicities using the substance at similar rates.

“Pennsylvania’s insistence in continuing to fight the war on marijuana, is at the root of the problematic data presented in this report,” the ACLU of Pennsylvania concluded. “Law enforcement has not only continued its business-as-usual arresting policies in enforcement of cannabis prohibition, it has ramped up enforcement as marijuana use has become more accepted throughout the commonwealth and the nation. If laws don’t change, this pattern will likely continue; law enforcement could become even more heavy handed until policymakers are clear that it is time to end this approach. The clearest way to send that message is to end prohibition altogether.”

For more information, contact Justin Strekal, NORML Political Director, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the report is available from the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

The Wink In Weed: Fired Up On The Fourth of July

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Why I care about the 4th of July holiday, and you should too.

By David Rheins 

July 4th for me has always been Independence Day. The most quintessential of our national patriotic sentiments, Independence is at the core of what it means for me to be an American.  This weekend I’m celebrating Freedom, Independence and Cannabis.

I started smoking marijuana back in the 1970s, and have been a regular consumer ever since. Cannabis use for me has always been about freeing my mind, allowing the anxiety and rigidity of social conformity to fall away, and the expansive and magical possibility of the natural world to open up. Marijuana has been integral to my Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.

Despite otherwise being an upstanding, productive member of society, for most of my life my pot smoking made me a criminal. Every bag of weed that I bought from a buddy, every joint I toked with friends was a criminal act, and made me an outlaw in the eyes of my government. Every time that I freed my mind, I risked losing my livelihood and my liberty.

The war on drugs – really a war on marijuana users – has always been a political war meant to quell independent thought and political freedom. Pot smokers were the targets of discrimination and prosecution because we questioned authority. We challenged the status quo – about the war, civil rights, sexual expression and consumer culture. We turned on, tuned in and dropped out of the system, and the powers-that-be declared a war on us — a war that is still waging to this day to devastating effect.

According to the ACLU, over half of all drug arrests in the United States are for marijuana.  There were 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% for simple pot possession, with Blacks 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested.

As a society we’re ready to end the federal prohibition of cannabis. Citizens in four states have already voted for legalization of the adult use of marijuana. Polls consistently confirm that a solid majority of Americans support a full legalization of marijuana. This November, citizens in 8 states, including Arizona, Florida, Maine, Nevada, Michigan and California, will get the chance to vote on cannabis legalization. We, the people, can and are making a difference with our votes.

As the fastest growing industry in the country, Legal Cannabis has been an engine for creating jobs, reinvigorating local communities and filling government tax coffers. Legalization has provided economic independence for tens of thousands of Americans, not just for the hundreds of new licensed growers, processors and retailers, but also for the many ancillary businesses that support them.

With economic power comes independence and normalization. As the legal cannabis industry generates tax dollars, we also amass political currency and power. Local, State and even Federal Politicians are beginning to appreciate that cannabis companies represent jobs, votes, taxes and political donations. We also represent significant intellectual capital – and state and local governments and regulators are turning to the cannabis industry subject matter experts to aid them in crafting the legislation and regulations that will shape our new, post-prohibition future.

On this July 4th, I celebrate the freedom that I enjoy as an adult living in Washington State to purchase and consume cannabis legally, and I commit to doing everything that I can to see that this right is extended to all Americans.

Rolling Stone: The War On Drugs Is Burning Out

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The conservative wave of 2014 featured an unlikely, progressive undercurrent: In two states, plus the nation’s capital, Americans voted convincingly to pull the plug on marijuana prohibition. Even more striking were the results in California, where voters overwhelmingly passed one of the broadest sentencing reforms in the nation, de-felonizing possession of hard drugs. One week later, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD announced an end to arrests for marijuana possession.

It’s all part of the most significant story in American drug policy since the passage of the 21st Amendment legalized alcohol in 1933: The people of this country are leading a dramatic de-escalation in the War on Drugs. 

November’s election results have teed up pot prohibition as a potent campaign issue for 2016. Notwithstanding the House GOP’s contested effort to preserve pot prohibition in D.C., the flowering of the marijuana-legalization movement is creating space for a more rational and humane approach to adjudicating users of harder drugs, both on the state level and federally. “The door is open to reconsidering all of our drug laws,” says Alison Holcomb, who led the pot-legalization push in Washington state in 2012, and has been tapped to direct the ACLU‘s new campaign against mass incarceration.

ACLU: Steep Drop In Pot Cases Has Freed Up Resources

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WASHINGTON:  Legalization of marijuana in Washington has resulted in far fewer pot arrests, thereby freeing up law-enforcement and court resources, the ACLU says. But Ian Goodhew, of the King County Prosecutor’s Office, said prosecutors handled few misdemeanor pot cases before the law took effect.

A steep drop in charges filed against adults over 21 in Washington state after legalization of marijuana shows the new law is freeing up court and law-enforcement resources to deal with other issues, a primary backer of the law said Wednesday.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found that such low-level charges were filed in just 120 cases in 2013, down from 5,531 cases the year before. 

Wells, Civil Rights Groups Push for Potent D.C. Pot Bill

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:  On Tuesday, the D.C. Council will have a chance to pass what civil rights groups are calling the strongest marijuana decriminalization bill in the country.

The proposal, offered by Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who represents Capitol Hill and is also running for mayor, would prevent police officers from stopping and searching D.C. residents solely because officers smell pot. Supporters also see it as an attempt to end racial profiling. [Read more…]

Washington State Will Use Minors In Marijuana Buying Sting

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WASHINGTON: State officials will use minors in marijuana-buying stings next year when Washington’s new legal pot stores open.

Charged with implementing the new law that allows adults over age 21 to possess an ounce of pot, the state Liquor Control Board already uses minors in “controlled buys” of alcohol at retail stores.

The board’s enforcement chief said using the same strategy with marijuana makes sense, especially because federal officials want to make sure Washington restricts minors’ access to the drug.

“Of course the feds are looking at a tightly regulated market around youth access, and I think this shows we’re being responsible,” said Justin Nordhorn. [Read more…]