LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas called Tuesday for a plan to help individuals charged with minor cannabis violations get their convictions reduced or dismissed, pointing to disproportionate enforcement against minorities.
Previewing a motion he plans to bring to the full Board of Supervisors next week, Ridley-Thomas said the war on drugs has created intergenerational harm to certain communities.
“Disproportionate enforcement impacts African-American and Latino communities in particular, resulting in higher rates of arrest, and more severe charges and sentences, which in turn compounds barriers to employment, housing, financial assistance, and deepening social, communal and economic disparities,” Ridley-Thomas said in his motion.
Under Proposition 64, which legalized cannabis, certain convictions qualify for reduction or dismissal, including the destruction of court records for young offenders.
But many people don’t realize that they are eligible or can’t easily contend with a cumbersome process, according to the supervisor, who estimated that as many as 1 million people may qualify statewide.
The motion also seeks to ensure that disproportionate enforcement ends with legalization, despite a poor track record in other states.
After Alaska legalized marijuana, black residents were still arrested at a rate about 10 times higher than white residents, Ridley-Thomas said. In Washington, D.C., the ratio was approximately 4-to-1, and in Colorado, 3-to-1, he said.
“It is important to ensure there is equity in the enforcement of cannabis-related offenses going forward, so we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past,” Ridley-Thomas said.
He plans to ask for his colleagues’ support in asking the county’s Office of Cannabis Management to sit down with county law enforcement agencies and attorneys to develop a strategic plan.
The county has not yet approved a set of recommendations drafted by the Office of Cannabis Management for implementing legalization, which took effect statewide Jan. 1. Cannabis businesses remain prohibited by county ordinance, which covers all unincorporated areas.
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F _ _ k AV says
A sane society will eventually decriminalize possession of small, personal use of all drugs. Catching a BS drug case is MUCH,MUCH more damaging to the individual and society as a whole than a little coke in some guys pocket on a Saturday night. This policy is working in Europe with great success. This is not decriminalizing large scale drug trafficking. A few dollars worth of coke or speed or _Fill in the Blank_ doesn’t amount to anything and is only an imaginary threat to the hysterical baton polishers of America. About 98% of Americans would not be able to identify a casual, weekend warrior drug user if this user walked up to them and stuffed a straw in their nose. Americans are terrified of things they don’t even have any real knowledge of – you can thank the Corporate Media for that.
#paranoid dinosaurs of America
420 says
Wonder how much time Rex and Marv would have done for their antics?
Just sayin says
None at all rex has been busted for possession of cocaine… or what about when his wife went into an airport with a firearm again nothing was done…. anyone else would have been locked up
Do something says
When did this happen, just sayin? When was he busted for possession of cocaine? We all know about his wife, yet 88% of the people of Lancaster didn’t think it was important to go the polls and vote him out. Are you one of those people that didn’t vote? Lancaster has the politicians they deserve because that can’t even be bothered to vote and make a difference. It’s usually the one’s that complain daily with their posts that do nothing.
Stinger says
Marv was one of about 25 firefighters who lost their clearances at Plant 42 for alleged use of drugs and alcohol according to this published story.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/09/22/National-News-Briefs/4943433051200/
18 of them fought in court and got their clearances back. Marv was not one of them.
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-05-28/local/me-3033_1_security-clearances
Ex AV says
I simply LOVE hearing the dinosaurs complain about the new pot laws.
Lorna says
… the Barack Obama crowd, busy whirring away, cooking the books on black youth inner-city crime statistics, once again –
F...k AV says
Lorna, the delirious wrong winger that loves failed policy, mass incarceration, and anything related to actual facts as opposed to RW alterna facts. Are you a California State prison emoyee? We know you CCPOA employees just hate losing pieces of the easy money gravy train of your precious drug war.
Florence says
… amnesty, for the hoodlums, the punks, the brothas and the gangbangers –
Alexis says
They all speak highly of you, Florence.
Be equal says
Don’t forget the Mexicans
Tom says
They broke the law when it was a crime which means they could not follow the rules then and probably wont now. Why reward them.
F _ _ k AV says
Whatever, goose-stepper. Marijuana laws should have never existed in the first place. Marijuana laws were enacted to wage a war against the African American community and those oh-so-dangerous hippies. In the not too distant pass it was illegal for black people to sit in the front of the bus or use certain drinking fountains. Do you support those laws because they were the law of the era? G…d…mn hypocrites.
#batonpolishers