POT ACCEPTABLE? NOT FOR YOUNG AND NONWHITE

This year is a watershed year in pot politics.

The Obama administration recently announced it would defer to state
medical marijuana laws and stop federal prosecutions of patients and
providers who comply with them.

In California, the tanking economy inspired Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to call for debating marijuana taxation and
regulation, a bill was introduced in Sacramento to do just that, and
four separate ballot initiatives are circulating to allow voters the
chance to decide the issue for themselves.

Schwarzenegger's position was echoed by New York Gov. David Paterson
and by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who suggested
legalizing pot could cripple Mexican and U.S. gangs. The
unprecedented momentum to question marijuana prohibition is being
fueled by a widely remarked-upon phenomenon -- the cultural
mainstreaming of marijuana.

From Showtime's established hit "Weeds" to the "Is Pot Already
Legal?" cover of Fortune magazine in September, marijuana is
commanding attention and an odd kind of respect for its sheer
popularity and massive revenues.

Marie Claire magazine and the "Today Show" profiled "stiletto
stoners," stressed-out women professionals who unwind with a doobie
instead of a cosmo. And in a recent style feature, the Los Angeles
Times gushed that "cannabis culture is coming out of the closet,"
citing its ubiquity across the spectrum of pop culture and high-end
design. "It's here to stay," the Times proclaimed.

Pot is indeed flourishing in the mainstream as never before, but the
sometimes giddy discussion overlooks a sinister parallel phenomenon:
More people are being arrested for pot crimes than ever; they are
increasingly young and disproportionately nonwhite.

In 2008, the police arrested 847,864 people nationwide for marijuana
violations, according to the 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report. Pot
arrests represent fully half of all drug arrests reported in the
United States. The overwhelming majority -- a whopping 89 percent --
were charged with possession only.

Most striking, the marijuana arrest rate in the United States has
nearly tripled since 1991.

Examples from both coasts illustrate this. In California, according
to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, crime arrest rates
have generally plummeted statewide from 1990 to 2008 by an average of
40 percent. Drug possession arrests for everything but marijuana
collectively fell by nearly 30 percent. But during that same 18-year
period, arrests for marijuana possession in California skyrocketed
127 percent. In 2008, more Californians were arrested for pot
offenses than any year since decriminalization took effect 34 years ago.

Similarly, New York state decriminalized simple marijuana possession
in the 1970s. But under Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael
Bloomberg, New York City has become one of the marijuana arrest
capitals of the world -- 40,300 arrests last year.

In the years between 1997 and 2008, the NYPD made 12 times as many
pot possession arrests as in the previous 12 years, according to a
study by the New York Civil Liberties Union. How can the notion that
marijuana is "here to stay" coexist with these rates of marijuana
arrests? Apparently because the people caught in the crossfire aren't
considered part of the mainstream. In California, African-Americans
are three times as likely as whites to be arrested for a pot crime,
according to the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice. If you're
young and nonwhite, you are especially targeted.

The increase in marijuana possession arrests of California teenagers
of color since 1990 is quadruple that group's population growth.

In New York City, blacks and Latinos -- who represent about half the
city's population -- accounted for 86 percent of everyone charged
with pot possession in 2008. The NYCLU report says federal studies
show young whites use marijuana at higher rates than blacks and Latinos.

Supporters of marijuana prohibition often argue that few possession
busts lead to incarceration. First, that argument ignores the
countless parolees and probationers sent back to jail and prison
nationwide for failing drug tests or being caught with a joint. And
it seriously diminishes the lifelong stigma any criminal conviction
has for many young people of color, whose educational and
professional opportunities are severely curtailed as a result of
racist enforcement.

Getting caught with a joint means being photographed, fingerprinted
and permanently entered in the vast criminal database. Apparently
marijuana serves as a gateway after all, feeding young people into
the criminal justice system and on to a marginalized adulthood.

Widespread discussion of everyday marijuana consumption is helping
turn the tide against decades of failed marijuana prohibition.
However, too much of that conversation is ignoring the people most
impacted by our punitive policies.

We must end pot prohibition and stop the massive number of arrests
and biased enforcement that are at its core.