A new report on "Alabama's War on Marijuana," released today by the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center, calls prosecution of marijuana possession a wasteful use of state law enforcement that discriminates against blacks.
"This war on marijuana is one whose often life-altering consequences fall most heavily on black people," the report said.
The report features the stories of several people arrested for marijuana possession, such as Wesley Shelton of Montgomery, who spent 15 months in jail on a felony conviction for possession of $10 worth of marijuana.
The report was released in Alabama a day after Canada began legalized sale of recreational marijuana. The report notes that the sale and possession of marijuana is now legal in 8 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, and includes a chapter titled, "Marijuana legalization proving beneficial to states," touting increased state revenue and the virtual elimination of marijuana arrests.
Huntsville police arrested 143 people for marijuana possession in 2016 and 121 were black; Birmingham arrested 38 and 35 were black; Tuscaloosa arrested 331 and 256 were black, the report notes.
The report studied 2,351 arrests in Alabama for marijuana possession in 2016. Among the findings:
- The overwhelming majority of people arrested for marijuana offenses from 2012 to 2016, nearly 89 percent, were arrested for possession.
- Despite studies showing black and white people use marijuana at the same rates, black people were approximately four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession (both misdemeanors and felonies) in 2016 - and five times as likely to be arrested for felony possession.
- Alabama spent an estimated $22 million to enforce the prohibition against marijuana possession in 2016 - enough to fund 191 additional preschool classrooms, 571 more K-12 teachers or 628 more corrections officers.
- The enforcement of marijuana possession laws has created a crippling backlog at the state agency tasked with analyzing forensic evidence in all criminal cases, including violent crimes.
"Alabama's war on marijuana is a monumental waste of tax dollars, undermines public safety, and is enforced with a staggering racial bias," said Frank Knaack, executive director of Alabama Appleseed. "The impact of an arrest for possessing marijuana is often significant, and the consequences can last for years. Even an arrest for the possession of a small amount of marijuana can upend somebody's life by limiting their access to employment, housing and college loan programs, and leaving them trapped in a never-ending cycle of court debt."
The report identified wildly disparate arrest rates for white and black people in certain jurisdictions. Among the 50 law enforcement agencies that arrested the most people for possession, seven arrested black people at 10 or more times the rate of white people. Those jurisdictions are: Huntsville, Dothan, Gulf Shores, Pelham, Troy, Etowah County, and Decatur.
"Alabama continues to shoot itself in the pocketbook with harsh, outdated laws that create needless suffering for its residents, particularly for black people who are still living with the legacy of Jim Crow," said Lisa Graybill, deputy legal director for the SPLC. "It's past time to reform laws that perpetuate discrimination."
A fiscal analysis conducted by economists at Western Carolina University found that the enforcement of marijuana possession laws - the police and prosecutors' work, the court hearings and trials, and the incarceration of people in local jails and state prisons - came with a price tag of $22 million in 2016.
"Each of the 2,351 marijuana arrests in 2016 involved a judge, a clerk, law enforcement officers, forensics, storage, and prosecutors, all paid for by Alabama's taxpayers," Dr. Angela Dills and Dr. Audrey Redford, economics professors with the Center for the Study of Free Enterprise at Western Carolina University, said in a joint statement. "Taken together, we estimate the cost of enforcing Alabama's marijuana possession laws to be $22 million in 2016 alone."
Other personal stories in the report include Kiasha Hughes, who aspired to be a medical assistant, but because of a marijuana offense she now works at a chicken plant and struggles to provide for her children; and Nick Gibson, who was a student at the University of Alabama when a marijuana possession charge derailed his education.
"Alabama should follow the lead of other states that have realized marijuana prohibition is self-defeating and counterproductive," Graybill said. "We're draining scarce resources and driving people further into poverty - and there's no public safety benefit. Even Mississippi has decriminalized small amounts of marijuana."
Marijuana prohibition also threatens wider public safety, the report found. The significant backlog at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences caused by the demand for drug sample tests has siphoned resources away from the agency's Forensic Biology/DNA lab. That lab now faces a backlog of 1,121 cases, of which about half are "crimes against persons," or homicides, sexual assaults and robberies.
"Now in its fourth decade, the war on drugs has failed to eradicate or even diminish marijuana use," Knaack said. "In 2016 alone Alabama spent over $22 million on the enforcement of its marijuana possession laws. At the same time, the state agency tasked with analyzing forensic evidence in all criminal cases, including violent crimes, faced a crippling backlog. It's time for Alabama to invest its resources on strategies and programs that will help keep our communities safe - investigating serious crimes and providing substance abuse and mental health programs."
Polls show that 61 percent of Americans now support full legalization, the report said.