WBEZ ran a piece on the report released by the ACLU about racial disparities in nationwide arrests for marijuana possession. The report also broke down the numbers for Illinois, and found that black people are 8 times more likely than white people to be arrested for pot. WBEZ spoke with Communications and Public Policy Director Ed Yohnka about the implications of the report's findings.

Yohnka says that disparity “results in really tragic outcomes in … people’s lives,” because of court costs and the stigma of a criminal record.  It cost the state about $221 million to enforce marijuana laws in 2010, according to the report.

“This war on marijuana … is an abject failure,” Yohnka said.

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The Chicago Tribune ran an article about the recent ACLU report that looks at racial disparities in arrests for marijuana possession. The report found that in Illinois, black people are 8 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite the fact that both racial groups use marijuana at equal rates.

The report also found that Cook County made far more marijuana possession arrests in 2010 than any other county in America. Cook totaled more than 33,000 pot arrests that year, with blacks making up nearly 73 percent of those busted.

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An article in The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cook County Sheriff's Office will begin taking DNA samples from inmates next month, due to the recent Supreme Court ruling in Maryland v. King. The ruling will allow the government to collect and analyze DNA samples from individuals who have been arrested, but not yet convicted, without a warrant or consent. The decision could also lead to expansion of Illinois law through legislative efforts.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois opposed the legislation in Springfield on the basis that collecting "intimate information about people who are presumed innocent" was an invasion of privacy, said spokesman Ed Yohnka. Unlike fingerprints, he said, DNA contains personal information about everything from a person's health history to heredity.

"Once that massive database (of DNA information) exists, people are going to want access to it," he said. "Once it's there, it's just a gold mine for private interests."

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