Nationwide, Black people were 3.6 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in 2018, despite similar usage rates, according to a 2020 American Civil Liberty Union report.
At the same time, the U.S. cannabis industry was and still is exploding with only 10% of cannabis business owners identifying as Latino or African American.
So not only are people of color more likely to get in trouble for having weed, those criminal convictions could mean they are being shut out of a $61 billion industry.
While overall marijuana arrests have decreased at the national level since 2010, cannabis arrests make up 43% of all drug arrests — which is more than any other drug — and the majority of the arrests are for possession, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
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