Research has shown that Black people are disproportionately affected by cannabis-related arrests, even though Black and white people use cannabis at similar rates.
A number of studies have reported that Black people are disproportionately likely to be arrested for cannabis offenses. For example, a 2019 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report found that Black people were nearly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people. Similarly, a 2020 report from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) found that Black people were 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis offenses than white people.
Furthermore, a study published by the Journal of Race and Justice in 2020 also found that Black people were 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis offenses than white people.
It's important to note that these percentages of arrests are based on self-reported data, so the reality might be worse due to the lack of trust between some communities and law enforcement.
It's also important to note that the impact of these numbers and disparity vary from state to state and from region to region, and there are also different policies in different countries around the world, which might affect the percentage of black people being arrested.
In 2021, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program estimated that there were 663,367 arrests for cannabis-related offenses in the United States, with the majority of those arrests being for possession. These numbers reflect a decreasing trend in marijuana arrests in recent years, as more states legalize and decriminalize cannabis, but it still represents a large amount of arrests.
Additionally, I want to stress again, that those statistics of arrests for cannabis offenses are disproportionately affecting people of color, which represent a higher percentage among the population arrested for cannabis related offenses, despite similar use rates among racial groups.
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