The New York Times published an editorial highlighting the ACLU report, "The War on Marijuana in Black and White." The report looked at the numbers of arrests for marijuana possession nationwide and found there to be a vast disparity between the number of whites arrested compared to the number of blacks arrested. The report also found that blacks and whites use marijuana at roughly the same rate. Even more alarming is the racial disparity for pot arrests here in Illinois. The editorial reads:
Nationally, African-Americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites. The disparity is even more pronounced in some states, including Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, where African-Americans are about eight times as likely to be arrested. And in some counties around the country, blacks are 10, 15 or even 30 times as likely to be arrested.
