New Report: Race Plays Role In New Rochelle Marijuana Arrests

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A new report released this week by the Drug Policy Alliance and the Public Science Project at the CUNY Graduate Center reaches some striking conclusions. The research study, Inequitable Marijuana Criminalization, COVID-19, and Socioeconomic Disparities: The Case for Community Reinvestment in New York, concludes that there are significant racial disparities in marijuana arrests across the state. New Rochelle was among four specific case studies. Other cities analyzed included New York City, Syracuse and Buffalo.

The four cities in the study were chosen to represent an array of regions and demographics across the state. In each of the four cities studied, the average poverty rate was significantly higher among zip codes with high marijuana arrests. The high marijuana arrest zip codes were shown to have roughly half the average household income of the zip codes with low marijuana arrests.

Drug law reform advocates say the racial and economic disparities in marijuana arrests in New Rochelle and elsewhere make a strong case for reforming marijuana laws in New York. Supporters say the data indicates that current enforcement of marijuana laws is not only a matter of civil rights, but also of racial justice.

“The enforcement of marijuana prohibition has devastated communities across New York State, primarily communities of color and low-income communities,” New York State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance Melissa Moore, whose organization commissioned the study, said. “There have been more than 800,000 arrests for low-level marijuana just in the last 25 years alone in New York, with extreme racial disparities – despite data showing similar rates of use and sale across racial and ethnic populations.”

New Rochelle showed by far the highest disparity of income between the high marijuana arrest zip codes and the wealthier low arrest areas in the cities studied. The average percentage of families receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) in the high marijuana arrest zip codes was at least three times greater than in low marijuana arrest zip codes. In addition, every high marijuana arrest zip code had both lower rates of home ownership and lower median home values than the lowest marijuana arrest area.

In New Rochelle, researchers found that the arrest rate in the high marijuana arrest zip code is 7.5 times that of the low arrest zip code. Citywide, Black people made nearly 46 percent of all marijuana arrests despite being slightly more than 20 percent of the New Rochelle population.

The study also indicates a strong correlation between the number of marijuana arrests in a given zip code and the number of coronavirus infections reported in the specific area.

Drug policy reform activists say the stark contrast in how marijuana laws are enforced, makes simply legalizing marijuana too little, too late. The advocates say any pot legalization legislation must also have a plan for giving resources to the communities which have been most harmed by current drug policies.

“Legalizing marijuana cannot be done justly in New York without an adequate plan for atonement for the devastation caused to Black and Brown people during the decades-long war on drugs," Director for Citizen Action of New York Stanley Fritz said. "This report makes clear the link between being a person of color, economic status and mass criminalization. The consequence for our community is disproportionate deaths, infection rates, joblessness and housing insecurity during the pandemic.”