An annual report published on Jan. 1 by the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) made many observations about California’s law enforcement officers. This is the sixth report since RIPA was formed in 2016, which collects data about general policing and ways to eliminate unlawful practices.

“Over the past four years, the data collected under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act has provided empirical evidence showing disparities in policing throughout California,” the report states. “This year’s data demonstrates the same trends in disparities for all aspects of law enforcement stops, from the reason for stop to actions taken during stop to results of stop.”

The report spans stop data that occurred between January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, and analyzes information from 58 law enforcement agencies and the negative impacts of citizen interactions with police, with a focus on youth.

In the 2021 timeframe, more than 3.1 million stops were reported. In terms of “perceived” race or ethnicity, police agencies states that 42.2% were Hispanic/Latine(x), 30% white, 15% Black, 5.3% Asian, 4.8% Middle Eastern/South Asian, 1% multiracial, 0.5% Pacific Islander, and 0.3% Native American. Additionally, 72.1% were cisgendered male and 27.5% cisgendered female, making up 99.7% of all stops.

Reasons for a law enforcement “stop” include either a traffic violation (86.6%), or a reasonable suspicion of being engaged in criminal activity (10.5%). Black individuals had the highest percentage of stops in regard to “reasonable suspicion” at 16.2%, but also the lowest proportion of stops for traffic violations (80.5%).

The RIPA Board found that Black and Hispanic/Latine(x) individuals were more likely to have force used against them compared to White individuals. Black teens between the ages of 10-14 and 15-17 experienced the highest rate of being searched by police (20.1%), detained (17.9%), and handcuffed (15.4%), and “removed from a vehicle by order” (7.6%).

Black adolescents were detained curbside or in a patrol car 36.2%-44.5% of the time, searched 39.9%-42.4% of the time, handcuffed 33.5-36.5% of the time. Ultimately, this data shows that teens who are perceived to be Black were searched six times the rate of White adolescents, and those perceived to be Hispanic/Latine(x) were searched four times more.

The interactions that teens have with law enforcement, including repeat interactions, impact those individuals’ mental health. “Research shows that the types of contact and frequency of involuntary contacts with law enforcement may have a harmful impact on the individual stopped, triggering stress responses, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and other related negative mental health impacts,” the report states. “This research suggests that racial and identity profiling goes beyond the criminal legal system and policing; it is also a critical public health issue.”

“Based on the research, the Board believes that public health officials and policymakers should treat racial and identity profiling and adverse policing as significant public health issues. It is imperative to recognize that police interactions can negatively affect the mental and physical health of individuals who are Black, Hispanic/Latine(x), Indigenous, and people of color. Doing so could help significantly reduce the high stress, community fragmentation, and poor health outcomes among community members who experience targeting of their neighborhoods and aggressive policing practices. Given this, adequate resources should be invested to understand and address the health implications of racial and identity profiling.”

This report covers a variety of information relative to the discussion of how law enforcement abuses the system through pretextual stops or searches, an act where an officer stops an individual for a minor violation in order to closer “investigate a hunch regarding a different crime that by itself would not amount to reasonable suspicion or probable cause.”

While the report does not specifically delve into details in regards to cannabis, The Washington Post published a story in October 2022 about the racial disparities in law enforcement in Virginia. Although the state legalized adult-use cannabis in July 2021, the article put a spotlight on how Virginia police are still more likely to arrest Black people more than White people for cannabis-related offenses.

An analysis of cannabis arrests by the New York Police Department (NYPD) in 2020 showed that 94% of all cannabis-related arrests impacted people of color. Overall, cannabis arrests by the NYPD in 2022 have been reduced, but arrests were still higher for those perceived as Black or Hispanic.

In April 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published an extensive report showing the disparity of arrests for Black individuals, showing that arrests are still widespread and racial disparities are still common throughout the country, both in states with legal or decriminalized cannabis.

The post Study Reveals California Law Enforcement More Likely To Arrest Black Teens appeared first on High Times.

The post Study Reveals California Law Enforcement More Likely To Arrest Black Teens appeared first on Paradise Found.

A new study conducted by Rutgers University in New Jersey compiles data on cannabis consumption in relation to gender, age, and race.

On February 14, Rutgers New Jersey State Policy Lab released a public study that examined various cannabis consumption trends of state residents. Entitled “Cannabis Legalization in New Jersey: A Baseline Study,” this nearly 100-page document spans a wide variety of observations.

“In this report, we examine education, health, and law enforcement factors as they relate to youth and adults with respect to marijuana usage directly and indirectly. That is, we include variables that could be impacted by the legalization of recreational marijuana,” the study states in its executive summary. Although it claims to be the first study of its kind in New Jersey, it also points out that other states with more mature cannabis legalization industries produce similar data on an annual basis. It also shares that the data was pulled from multiple secondary sources, and cautions readers when considering the presented information.

One of the study’s key findings includes the breakdown of consumption by sex and age. The overall percentage of men (45.2 percent in New Jersey) and women (35.8 percent in New Jersey, and 39.6 percent in the US) who consume cannabis is slightly lower than the national average (48.6 percent and 39.6 percent respectively), according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archives 2021. Between 2016-2019, data also reflects that the male/female breakdown was divided by 49.3 percent and 50.7 percent.

In terms of age ranges between 2016-2019, data showed that consumption for adults over age 26 increased, whereas usage decreased for the 18-25 age range. Youth consumption, including anyone between 12-17 years of age, also rose between 2017-2019 (about 70,000-78,000 individuals), which matched the overall national average.

According to Dean of Rutgers University-Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration Charles Menifield, one of the main goals of the study is also to identify if the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act is being followed effectively. “This report is critical to New Jersey setting a model similar to other states in recognizing that all people in the state are not the same, and by legalizing cannabis, its impact on different communities is going to vary,” Menifield said. “[People] should care about this study because it’s going to have ramifications on healthcare outcomes, educational outcomes, and public safety.”

Menifield also shared that this data, as well as information gathered in the future, could help Rutgers University better understand the effects of cannabis consumption on students. “The argument we are making is that graduation rates could change based on cannabis use,” said Menifield. “If students start smoking and selling marijuana, they may drop out. Then the question becomes, who is dropping out? Where do they live? What city are they in? What county are they in? What’s their race? What’s the income level of their parents? So in order to ameliorate those situations, you need to know all of that other information.”

Additionally, Vandeen Campbell, assistant research professor with the Rutgers-Newark Department of Urban Education and Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, explained that study should start now so that the data can be examined as the cannabis industry matures. “The disparities in exclusionary discipline practices are really important to highlight for students of color,” said Vandeen Campbell, an assistant research professor with the Rutgers-Newark Department of Urban Education and Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, who also worked on the study. “We don’t know if legalization will be related to these rates in any way—we’ll have to study it—but that is certainly something that needs to be changed and needs to be monitored.”

The post Rutgers University Report Examines Cannabis Consumption Data appeared first on High Times.

The post Rutgers University Report Examines Cannabis Consumption Data appeared first on Paradise Found.

The post Prison Death of Marvin Scott Sparks Anger Among Cannabis And Racial Justice Activists appeared first on Paradise Found.

The post Evanston, Illinois To Fund Reparations To Black Community With Cannabis Tax Revenue appeared first on Paradise Found.

The post Pennsylvania Police Make More Than 20,000 Pot Arrests During The Pandemic appeared first on Paradise Found.

The post NAACP Claims New Jersey Cannabis Panel Illegal Without Black Men appeared first on Paradise Found.

The post Oregon Lawmaker Introduces Social Equity Cannabis Bill appeared first on Paradise Found.

The post Racial Bias In Pots Arrests Still Prevalent In D.C. Despite Legalization appeared first on Paradise Found.

The anti-inflammatory product line should be on shelves by the end of February.

The post Southern University Becomes the First HBC to Enter the CBD Industry appeared first on High Times.

The post Southern University Becomes the First HBC to Enter the CBD Industry appeared first on Paradise Found.