California NAACP: Marijuana Legalization is a 'Civil Rights Issue'

More than 850,000 Californians were arrested for marijuana possession over the last two decades, according to a new report from the California NAACP and the Drug Policy Alliance that shows not only that the state’s lax attitude toward cannabis isn’t reflected in its law enforcement, but that African Americans are up to 12 times more likely to be arrested than whites.

And don’t be fooled, the report’s authors say: the racially disparate impacts of the government’s war on pot won’t change unless voters pass Proposition 19 and legalize marijuana this fall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cynical faux-decriminalization aside.

Released at the California NAACP’s annual state convention in Oakland -- a press conference touting it featured former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders and actor Danny Glover -- the report (pdf) shows that between 2006 and 2008 blacks in Los Angeles were arrested for marijuana possession at seven times the rate of whites. In San Diego, African Americans were six times more likely to be arrested, rising to 12 times more likely in Pasadena, where blacks make up 11 percent of the population but 49 percent of those arrested for pot.

“For decades, law enforcement strategies have targeted low-income people of color who bear the disproportionate burden and stigma of arrest, prosecution, and permanent criminal records for marijuana possession and other minor drug offenses,” California NAACP President Alice Huffman writes in a preface to the report entitled, “Marijuana Law Reform is a Civil Rights Issue.”

The authors of the study are also careful to debunk the media-perpetuated myth that Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signing of legislation that reduces the punishment for small-time pot possession from a criminal misdemeanor to a $100 infraction carrying no threat of arrest somehow negates the need for legalization or Prop. 19.

“Contrary to some media reports, making marijuana possession an infraction is not technically or legally ‘decriminalization,’ they write. “Under California law, an infraction is still a criminal offense, a crime. And for “immigration status, credit reports, occupational licensing, and other official purposes, the infraction can still show up as a ‘drug offense’ with some of the same consequences as a misdemeanor.”

Law enforcement also “may well feel free to give out more summonses for an infraction,” but because California does not release statistics on infractions like it does for misdemeanors, “nobody will be able to prepare a report like this one showing in each California county and city how many blacks, Latinos, or young people were given summonses and fined under the new law. In effect, the policing of marijuana possession will become even more hidden and invisible.”

The report comes as a new poll from the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California found that 51 percent of those surveyed say they will oppose Prop. 19, with just 39 percent saying they support legalization. That finding comes after another poll from the Public Policy Institute of California finds the initiative to also be headed for defeat, with 44 percent in support and 49 percent opposed; three weeks ago the same pollsters found Prop. 19 leading 52-41 percent.

Polls should always be taken with a boulder of salt, but the trend isn't encouraging, perhaps an indication that the "vote no" scare campaign from law enforcement and the Obama administration is having some effect. To win, legalization advocates need to not only get out the youth vote (those under 40 overwhelmingly support Prop. 19), but convince the rest of California that marijuana isn't something to be feared. And what better way to do that then with cute, cuddly little animals? Check out the video posted to the Internet this week by activists that urges Californians to back legalization through the use of adorable, Prop. 19-supporting critters and figures that show ending cannabis prohibition makes sense both in terms of reducing crime and boosting the state's lagging economy.

And if lizards can sell Americans car insurance, why can't a squirrel sell pot to Californians?

Photo Credit: Library of Congress