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May 18, 2021

Lots of criminal justice discussion of later atĀ Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform

I have not done a round-up of posts from my blogging over at Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform in a little while, and I am especially eager to flag again this earlier post requesting information from any and all folks teaching (or interested in teaching) a law course on drugs generally or cannabis in particular (sought via a short survey at go.osu.edu/teaching-drugs-survey).  In addition, below are some more recent posts at the intersection of criminal justice reform and marijuana reform from MLP&R

May 18, 2021 at 11:59 AM | Permalink

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A recent Kentucky investigative article (which I sent Doug) shows that in Kentucky, where only 8% of the population is black (but 14.6% in Lexington and 23% in Louisville), blacks are 9 times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than whites citizens, and 6 times more likely to be arrested for trafficking in marijuana. This is so, despite studies that indicate that blacks and whites smoke marijuana at roughly the same rates per 100,000 population. While local police chiefs are grappling with how to explain these black arrest rates, some of our black criminal clients explain it a different way. Interestingly, blacks seem to smoke marijuana more in their cars and in public places (including walking down the sidewalk and in public parks), making them more likely to come to the attention of the police than whites, who typically smoke marijuana at home or in back yards, out of sight and smell of the police. At least some of the differences in arrest rates can be explained by sociology, not racist police officers.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 20, 2021 8:35:08 AM

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In the body of your email, please indicate if you are a professor, student, prosecutor, defense attorney, etc. so I can gain a sense of who is reading my blog. Thank you, DAB