Study: Decriminalizing marijuana reduces arrests of black Americans
===================================================================

* Aaron Warnick

U.S. policies that reduce arrests for marijuana possession have benefited black Americans, who have long been disproportionately targeted and punished for having the drug, a recent study finds. However, blacks are still arrested at higher rates than whites for other policies involving marijuana, according to the research.

In the study, published in May in *Drug and Alcohol Dependence,* researchers compared arrest records from Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia County and Dauphin County between 2009 and 2018. Philadelphia County decriminalized marijuana possession in 2014, while Dauphin County has not.

Researchers found that in Philadelphia County, arrests of black people for marijuana possession after 2014 dropped by nearly half. At the same time, arrests of whites for the same reason decreased by 8.8 percent.

Nguyen K. Tran, MPH, lead author of the study, said the research offers evidence that drug policy reforms can reduce arrest rates for drug possession and that those policy decisions impact whites, blacks and others in different ways.

The study also found disparities in other types of marijuana arrests increased. After possession was decriminalized, arrest rates of whites for sale and manufacturing of the drug dropped 20 percent. Meanwhile, arrests of blacks for those charges dropped about 8 percent, widening existing disparity.

“What is troublesome is that we found evidence of increasing racial disparities for sales and manufacturing-based arrest rates after the policy was implemented, which is a bit contradictory to what we initially hypothesized,” Tran, a doctoral and research student at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, told *The Nation’s Health.*

Law enforcement may have shifted its focus toward other marijuana-related offenses after the possession policies were eased, the study hypothesized. And overarching racial biases in the criminal justice system likely contribute to continual disparities in arrest rates, Tran said.

A 2013 study found that blacks in the U.S. were nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites. Other studies confirm that blacks, especially black men, are more likely to have interactions with police and be incarcerated.

“Given the potential health consequences of having a criminal record, disparities across all groups of individuals in contact with the criminal justice systems need to be addressed to ensure equitable marijuana policy reform,” Tran said. “We also need more work on understanding the effects of changes in policing when these drug policy reforms are put in place.”

To read the study, visit [https://www.journals.elsevier.com/drug-and-alcohol-dependence/](https://www.journals.elsevier.com/drug-and-alcohol-dependence/).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association