Thread by @michaelharriot

Under the new law, 40% of NY’s marijuana revenue would go to “minority” communities, which seems GREAT.

That ain’t enough.

One of the untold stories is how cops use weed laws to target Black people. You might THINK you know, but you don’t.

A thread:
nytimes.com/2021/03/31/nyr…

Let's get this out of the way:

Young white people use more ILLEGAL drugs than damn near anyone in 'murica. I know. It seems like it CAN'T be true. It always was.

Now, of course, you might have read that Blacks and whites use drugs "at about the same rate. "

That's WAS true

But now that a MAJORITY of states have legalized and decriminalized some form of marijuana, weed is no longer technically an ILLEGAL drug.

And weed was the category where Black people kinda kept up with whites. In the other categories, whites were running away with the race

Right now, someone is reading this now and saying: "This must be bullshit."

PLEASE look for yourself.

It's only the US government's biggest survey other than the census. Every year Substance Abuse & Mental Services Administration does this study.

samhsa.gov/data/all-repor…

The reason it's so hard to believe is because it's INSANE how Black and brown people are targeted by the drug war with the government knowing who is using it AND who is selling it.

It's almost like a goddamned conspiracy!

Here is another thing that's hard to believe:

Police stop and search Black people at twice the rate of white drivers. But WHITE PEOPLE are more likely to have illegal contraband.

You think I'm bullshitting, don't you?

washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…

I know, I know. And if it seems like I'm cherry-picking, then do this:

Disprove it.

I'll wait.

Researchers keep trying to disprove police bias but they can't. Stanford's Open Policing Project, the largest policing study ever, looked at 200 million police stops and found this:

Part of this bias is explainable in one word:

Marijuana.

(You thought I was gonna say "racism," didn't you?)

Nah, one of the least talked-about phenomena in policing is the "smell of marijuana" loophole that's used to arrest Black and brown people all the time.

To search someone or their property, cops must have probable cause, which has no clear definition. They often make shit up (the old "fits the description" excuse.) When these cases started getting thrown out or overturned, cops found a loophole

They just say they smelled weed.

If you know a black dude between the age of 18-25, ask him if he's ever been searched or had his vehicle searched because a cop "smelled marijuana in the car."
(According to every white person who's been caught doing "a racism," they all have an invisible black friend, right?)

Again, the numbers say it's actually the WHITE PEOPLE who are doing the weed-driving but young Black men are stopped MORE OFTEN.

Even if they don't find contraband, if you challenge the cop, you might get shot; you might get beaten; you might get arrested for "resisting."

THAT'S why, when racists or conservatives (I know it's redundant) bring up FBI statistics, I don't pay it any attention. Because those numbers only reflect arrests, many of which happen during random traffic stops or patrolling Black areas.

That's also why we can't just protest when police kill a Black person. We rarely protest for the ones who get shot or beaten and manage to survive. Or the ones who get tased.

How about the ones who lose job opportunities because of arrests? How about the others?

The athletes who lose scholarships and can't afford college otherwise. How about regular college students?

What?

Oh, you didn't know?

And, again, it's THE WHITE KIDS WHO ARE USING THE DRUGS!

It's almost like a...

Oh, I said that already.

But what does this have to do with New York legalizing drugs?

Well, 40 percent of the revenue ain't enough.

They target Black people MORE THAN THAT

One of my favorite statistics:

In 2012, the NYPD stopped and frisked 168,126 Black and Latino men between the age of 14 and 24.

In 2012, only 158,406 Black and Latino men 14-24 lived in NYC.

That's right, they stopped more young Black men THAN THERE WERE IN THE CITY!

And you might be thinking: "Well, that's just NYC. The new marijuana law is statewide."

Well, NYC actually targets Black men LESS than the rest of New York State.

But now that there is an uptick in white drug use with opioids, meth and prescription pills, all of a sudden there's a new, more rational approach to drug use.

And 40 percent of marijuana revenue seems like a lot, ONLY because people think:

"Well, the negroes use drugs, tho."

Even some Black people fall for this BS, insisting that the police need to crack down on drug dealers in Black neighborhoods, when the real dope boys are on the white side of town this whole time.

Last thing:

I'm not smart, or anything. This info is publicly available

Every police dept knows that locking people up for drug possession doesn't decrease drug use.

Lawyers know it. Prosecutors know it. Judges even know it.

A few years ago, I earned a fellowship at @JohnJayCollege.

They brought in cops, formerly incarcerated people, scholars, prosecutors, etc.

On the last day, they brought in a federal judge (he may have been retired), who basically said that the way the criminal justice system approaches drugs is fucked up.

So I raise my hand:

I ask him why judges and cops don't seem to understand this data.

"Oh, you think they don't know?" He said. "It's 2018. you think there's a police department or court in America that doesn't see the statistics?"

I asked him why it still persists if he knows.

He got quiet.

Now, this guy was on a court in Minnesota. He said:

"I was the valedictorian of a high school that was 97% white. In college, I finished at the top of my class. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was at least 90 percent white.

Law school was even whiter. Clerking for a judge is even whiter than that. I knew I wasn't the smartest guy in my town. I wasn't the smartest guy at my college or my law school. But guys just like me make the laws. They're the ones who enforce the laws."

Then he said:

"You seem like a smart guy answer me this: What makes you think THOSE GUYS – myself included – would WANT to change that system?"

I sat down.

I think about that a lot.