4/20 and the Criminalization of Marijuana

Despite broad social and medical acceptance of cannabis today, since 1970, United States federal, state, and local law enforcement have made over 20 million marijuana related arrests, over 90% for possession only. Black Americans across the United States are on average 3.6 times more likely to face marijuana-related charges and more than nine times more likely to be arrested for public use than their white counterparts. Since Washington State legalized recreational cannabis use in 2012, the racial disparity in cannabis related arrests has only grown, targeting Black, Latinx, and Indigenous/ Alaska Native residents.

Surges in cannabis arrests began with the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, passed as a part of the larger Nixon-era War on Drugs, which drastically increased policing in Black and low-income areas, and initiated skyrocketing arrests in these communities through 2007. The war on drugs era was responsible for enormous increases in drug-related arrests nationwide, increasing the incarcerated rate in the United States by over 2 million - 80% of these drug-related arrests were of black or Latino men.

While marijuana related arrests have fallen drastically since the 1970s, criminal charges and histories impacted by cannabis charges overwhelmingly target Black men and Hispanic men. In an era of increasingly militarized and racially driven immigration enforcement, the continued racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests are particularly dangerous to those with tenuous residency or citizenship. The Immigration Legal Resource Center reports that  “Conviction for possession of over 30 grams (just over an ounce of marijuana) disqualifies an applicant for naturalization or a visa. It also disqualifies an immigrant for temporary protected status and is grounds for deportation. In addition, a minor drug conviction can prevent entry into the United States for life. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, any conviction of drug possession, no matter how minor, is grounds for refusal.” It is clear that sporadic legalization of cannabis has not resolved the biased and unequal penalization of targeted communities through drug policies. 

Even in legal states, old marijuana possession charges can carry legal weight. Only six US states have enacted automatic expungement for low-level cannabis charges - this means charges are removed from a person’s record without going to court or paying an attorney for services and assistance. In states with expungement available, but no automatic expungement in place, affected individuals are responsible for initiating legal proceedings, many of whom do not have the knowledge, training, or resources to do so. Washington State has not enacted automatic expungement, and despite the marijuana industry in Washington totaling over $1.2 billion in sales in 2025, at least 300,000 residents have marijuana related charges on their record.  Beyond the trauma of incarceration, those with criminal charges, including for marijuana, face significant challenges receiving food stamps, housing assistance, access to public jobs and education, federal loans, etc. This means that thousands of Washington residents are living with outdated criminal drug charges on their records for amounts of marijuana that are available for less than $20 on many of Seattle’s street corners today. 

Authored by Sophie Belz

Sources : 

• https://drugabusestatistics.org/marijuana-addiction/

• https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12270#:~:text=In%201996%2C%20California%20became%20the,purposes%20consistent%20with%20federal%20law.

• https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3617#:~:text=Passed%20House%20(04/01/2022),-Marijuana%20Opportunity%20Reinvestment&text=This%20bill%20decriminalizes%20marijuana.,%2C%20distributes%2C%20or%20possesses%20marijuana.

• https://www.law.uw.edu/news-events/news/2024/reclassifying-cannabis

• https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/weighing-impact-simple-possession-marijuana

• https://www.mpp.org/policy/federal/how-many-federal-marijuana-prisoners-are-there/

• https://www.mpp.org/issues/criminal-justice/federal-collateral-consequences-for-marijuana-convictions/ 

• https://healthequity.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/Tab05b-WA_Disproportionality%20Data%20Summary_DRAFT_12_11_2020.pdf