Marijuana is legal in many places, but not for poor people
Legalizing marijuana is no longer the radical concept it once was. Four more states approved ballot measures just this past election cycle to legalize marijuana in some form or another. In fact, one in three Americans currently lives in a state where recreational marijuana is entirely legal. Heck, Oregon decriminalized possession of small amounts of all drugs. There’s no telling yet all of the positive outcomes that move will bring. So, ball in your court, all 49 other states.
As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised to decriminalize marijuana once in office, however, it remains to be seen when that will finally materialize. While a little less clear on the matter, even the Trump administration had distanced itself from the hardline stance against marijuana that Republicans have typically taken.
Quirky white women, dubbed “marijuana moms,” have started up websites like marijuanamommy.com and made the rounds on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Atlantic, espousing their beliefs that smoking weed makes them better parents. “It’s no different than a glass of wine at night,” they say.
In Biden’s Plan for Black America, the administration promised to “decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions, and end all incarceration for drug use alone and instead divert individuals to drug courts and treatment.”
I say all this to say that nobody should be in jail right now for weed. Yet here we are in the Year of Our Lord 2021, and many Americans nationwide find themselves behind bars for nothing more than simple possession of marijuana.
Spoiler alert: They’re mostly Black. The racial disparity in marijuana arrests is alarming. According to the ACLU’s Marijuana Arrest Report, “Black people are 3.6 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite similar usage rates.” It’s been well documented now the effect that the War on Drugs has had on Black and brown communities. But its effects have become even more disturbing, considering marijuana is entirely legal across a vast portion of the country.
Clifford Hopkins is one such person affected by this. Hopkins has been in a Broward County jail since December 31, 2019 for the apparently unforgivable crime of possessing two ounces of marijuana.
Recent ordinances in Broward County have passed, giving police the option to “use their discretion” in lieu of arresting anyone found with less than 24 grams of marijuana, a concept rife with myriad problems on its own. Yet, in true backward Florida fashion, anything over 24 grams is a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $5,000.
“Prosecuting these cases has no public safety value and is a costly and counterproductive use of limited resources,” wrote newly elected Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor in a statement to law enforcement agencies. However, it remains unclear what may come from these recent changes, as his memo is light on any meaningful policy and heavy on platitudes.
While the Marijuana Moms do the social media rounds and Willie Nelson hangs with presidents, Clifford Hopkins and thousands of men and women like him sit in jails and prisons across the country for possessing weed.
There are people losing years of their lives they’ll never get back, wasting away in jail cells, all over some weed. All because they had the misfortune of being in a state that can’t get with the times. Let that sink in.
All signs point to the reformation of these archaic and — if the statistics are any indication — racist drug laws. Our new president is on board. In the meantime, it’s time we release our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our sons and our daughters. Let’s do it, Florida.
Don’t we have better things to worry about? #FreeCliffordHopkins