I personally don’t endorse the use of marijuana, probably because of my strict upbringing and the negative impacts I’ve seen it had on some people’s lives. But, I also know plenty of people that use it occasionally with no worse effects than alcohol.

I’ve also sat through a day of District Court in Durham, NC  and watched as at least 3 out of 4 cases were charges of less than an ounce of marijuana. These cases were entirely made up of low-income black males. These men were being put through the system and given a record for the same charges I’ve seen every white person I know get expunged from their records. This is institutional racism. 

I’m sure no one intends for this disparity to happen, but when the actual enforcement of a law has such a disparity between black and white there is a structural bias. This needs to change.

It’s interesting to see that the people at the Turbo Tax blog created the above graphic highlighting the tax benefits of legalizing and taxing marijuana. I’m mostly curious though at what effect this would have on preventing young black males from entering the jail system and creating cycles of poverty. I realize this blog post comes across as patriarchal, but shouldn’t everyone be able to have such a charge expunged from their record, and not just those that can afford a lawyer?

via Turbo Tax