Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2007.4.12

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Weekly News in Audio

April 12, 2007

NORML Affiliates To Protest Pot Prohibition On Tax Day

Denver: Marijuana Arrests Increase Despite Voter-Approved Initiative Abolishing City's Pot Penalties

African-American Mothers More Likely To Be Tested For Drugs, Study Says

Washington, DC:
NORML Affiliates To Protest Pot Prohibition On Tax Day

On Monday, April 16, 2007, NORML chapters around the country will hold protests at their local post-offices to call on elected officials to tax and regulate cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco.

"No day is more appropriate for America's citizens to protest their government's criminalization of cannabis than tax day," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. "Cannabis consumers may be the only community in America who are demanding the federal government to tax and regulate our product of choice."

Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to alcohol could produce combined savings and tax revenues as high as $14 billion per year, St. Pierre said -- citing a 2005 study by Boston University economist Jeffrey Miron.

A 2006 study reported that cannabis ranks as the top cash crop in twelve states and is worth more than $1 billion per year in five states: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Washington.

Most recently, California's Board of Equalization announced that it will seek to collect taxes on the state's 150 to 200 medicinal cannabis dispensaries.

'This tax day, when millions of Americans are lamenting filing their paperwork with the IRS, federal officials should remember that at least one community is standing up and demanding to be counted," St. Pierre said.

Denver, CO:
Denver: Marijuana Arrests Increase Despite Voter-Approved Initiative Abolishing City's Pot Penalties

Marijuana arrests in Denver increased more than 10 percent from 2005 to 2006, despite the recent passage of a municipal ordinance calling on police to cease penalizing adults who possess small amounts of pot.

Non-felony pot arrests rose from fewer than 2,200 in 2005 -- when 54 percent of Denver voters approved I-100, a citywide ordinance abolishing civil and criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by citizens age 21 and older -- to approximately 2,500 in 2006.

"The Denver Police Department has done the exact opposite of what the voters demanded and has gone out of its way to arrest even more adults than ever before," said SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) Director Mason Tvert, who coordinated the I-100 initiative. "Perhaps even more disturbing is the lack of interest among Denver's elected officials -- particularly our mayor -- in supporting the people who elected them."

Similar voter-approved efforts to 'deprioritize' marijuana law enforcement in several cities have led to a decrease in marijuana possession arrests - most notably in Seattle.

Among those arrested by Denver police on minor pot violations, 32 percent were African Americans. According to census data, African-Americans comprise only 11 percent of Denver's population.

Nationally, a 2005 NORML Foundation study reported that although African-American adults account for fewer than 12 percent of all marijuana users, they comprise 23 percent of those arrested annually on pot possession charges. A previous review of marijuana arrest data by NORML in 2000 found that African-Americans are busted for marijuana possession at rates twice those of whites in 64 percent of US counties.

Most recently, a 2007 study by the National Development Research Institute reported that 85 percent of the defendants arrested in New York City for the crime of possessing marijuana in the fifth degree were either African-American or Hispanic.

New York, NY:
African-American Mothers More Likely To Be Tested For Drugs, Study Says

African-American women and their newborns are more likely to be drug tested than are other women, even after controlling for sociodemographic and clinical factors, according to a study published in the current issue of the Journal of Women's Health.

Investigators at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City analyzed factors associated with the decision to drug test women with live births over a one-year period in a single hospital. Of the 8,487 mothers, 244 mother-newborn pairs (three percent) were tested for illegal drugs.

Researchers reported that "black women and their newborns were 1.5 times more likely to be tested for illicit drugs as non-black women," after controlling for obstetrical conditions and sociodemographic factors, such as single marital status or a lack of health insurance.

"There was no association between race and a positive toxicology result," investigators determined.

In many states, mothers who test positive for cannabis during or prior to childbirth can lose custody of their child and/or face criminal charges.

A 1990 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that African-American mothers who tested positive for illicit drugs were ten times more likely to be reported to child protective services than white and Hispanic counterparts.

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