New ACLU Report: Black People Almost 3.5 Times More Likely to Get Arrested for Marijuana in South Carolina

April 19, 2020 9:30 am

ACLU Marijuana Arrest Report Cover

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Ali Titus, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLESTON – Today the American Civil Liberties Union released a new report that showed Black people are almost 3.5 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in South Carolina, despite comparable national marijuana usage rates. Although the total number of people arrested for marijuana possession has decreased in the past decade, nationally, law enforcement still made 6.1 million such arrests over that period, and the racial disparities in arrest rates remain in every state. In addition, South Carolina has seen a substantial increase in the number of marijuana possession arrests.

The report, A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, details marijuana possession arrests from 2010 to 2018 and updates our unprecedented national report published in 2013, The War on Marijuana in Black and White. The disturbing findings of this new research show that despite several states having reformed marijuana policy over the last decade, far too much has remained unchanged when it comes to racial disparities in arrests. Key findings include:

  • Across the U.S., law enforcement made more than 6.1 million marijuana-related arrests from 2010 to2018. In South Carolina alone, there were 38,289 marijuana arrests in 2018, the vast majority of which (34,229) were for possession. In 2018, marijuana possession arrests accounted for 48 percent of all drug arrests in South Carolina.
  • South Carolina had the second highest marijuana possession arrest rate in the nation.
  • Overall national arrest rates have trended downward, however in South Carolina, marijuana possession arrests have actually increased 52.8% percent from 2010 to 2018.
  • Nationally, in 2018, law enforcement made more marijuana arrests than for all violent crimes combined.
  • A Black person in South Carolina is 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possessionthan a white person in 2018, up from 2.8 times more likely to be arrested in 2010 and 1.8 times more likely to be arrested in 2001.
  • Pickens, Oconee, Horry, Lexington, and Greenville counties have the largest disparities in marijuana arrests, ranging from 8.36x (Pickens) to 5.25x (Greenville).
  • Seven of the top 20 counties in the United States for marijuana possession arrest rates are in South Carolina. The counties and their rankings are Chester (#1), Newberry (#3), Darlington (#5), Marion (#7), Laurens (#13), Kershaw (#14), and Colleton (#17) counties.

A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform comes at a time when the criminal legal system is overwhelmed by the COVID-19 public health crisis that demands expedited decarcercal action to safeguard the lives of those incarcerated in and employed by jails and prisons. The reforms recommended in this report provide a road map for reducing marijuana arrests and criminalization as governors, prosecutors, judges, and other stakeholders across the country grapple with the harms presented by the public health crisis and take steps to release people from jails and prisons.

"Sold to the public in the name of public safety, South Carolina’s marijuana laws needlessly ensnare tens of thousands of people -- disproportionately Black people -- in its criminal justice system every year. This does not make us safe, and it ruins lives,” said ACLU of South Carolina Executive Director Frank Knaack. “Our marijuana laws are justified using code words like ‘law and order’ and ‘tough on crime’ – code words long used to maintain a racist system that stops, arrests, and convicts Black people at staggering rates compared to white people. It is time for our communities to define and advance our vision for what a just, equitable, and safe South Carolina should look like. And, part of this vision must be the legalization of marijuana with racial equity at the foundation of such reform.”

To combat the racial disparities rampant in marijuana-related arrests, the ACLU of South Carolina is calling not only for an end to racialized policing, but also for specific measures to redress inequities caused by decades of racist enforcement and harmful drug laws that do not advance public health or safety. This includes pressing for passage of statewide marijuana legalization and the federal MORE Act, which aims to correct historical injustices of the failed War on Drugs that has terrorized Black communities and decriminalizes marijuana at the federal level, reassesses marijuana convictions, and invests in economically disadvantaged communities.

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It's Time for South Carolina to Change its Marijuana Laws

A new ACLU report released today documents how South Carolina’s marijuana laws needlessly ensnare tens of thousands of people -- disproportionately Black people -- in its criminal justice system every year. Sold to the public in the name of public safety,  these laws do not make us safe and ruin lives.South Carolina has the second highest arrest rate for marijuana possession in the United States. Every 15 minutes somebody is arrested for possessing marijuana in South Carolina - a substance that is legal or decriminalized for personal use in 26 states and the District of Columbia.South Carolina’s current marijuana laws are a monumental waste of tax dollars. For each of the 34,229 marijuana arrests in 2018, our tax dollars had to pay for a judge, a clerk, law enforcement officers, solicitors, and others to process the case. According to an economic analysis published in 2013, the 16,669 marijuana possession arrests in 2010 cost South Carolina taxpayers nearly $50 million. Between 2010 and 2018 the number of marijuana possession arrests more than doubled, meaning South Carolina taxpayers may be paying closer to $100 million each year to enforce outdated and harmful marijuana possession laws.South Carolina’s marijuana policy is another example of its two-tiered justice system. Two people can be arrested for possessing the same amount of marijuana and face vastly differing punishments based on nothing more than their wealth. This is because access to diversion programs, which can mean the difference between having a criminal conviction and a clean record, often require fees to participate. As a result, those with wealth can pay their way to a clean record, while those without wealth are stuck with a criminal record and all of its collateral harms.And, South Carolina’s marijuana laws, like all aspects of its criminal justice system, are enforced with a staggering racial bias. In 2018 Black people were 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession when compared with whites, despite both groups using marijuana at roughly the same rate. And, this disparity is on the rise, up from 1.8 times more likely to be arrested in 2001  to 2.8 times more likely to be arrested in 2010. The discriminatory enforcement of South Carolina’s marijuana laws means that Black people are more likely to face the immediate harms of a marijuana possession conviction, including potential incarceration, criminal records, the loss of jobs, housing, financial aid eligibility, and child custody.The discriminatory enforcement also compounds the harms that already exist because of the racial wealth divide - a divide born from slavery and maintained though racist policies including regressive taxation, lending and pay discrimination, and unequal education, to name a few. White families in the United States have a median household wealth of $171,000 while Black families median household wealth is just $17,600. Because of this vast economic inequality, the reduced ability to participate in a diversion program and the collateral harms of a marijuana conviction, including its associated fines and fees, disproportionately push Black people into cycles of never ending debt, poverty, and further contact with the criminal justice system.It’s time for our communities to define and advance our vision for what a just, equitable, and safe South Carolina should look like. And, part of this vision must be the legalization of marijuana with racial equity at the foundation of such reform.