Montana’s voters have the chance to legalize marijuana for adult use on November 3. If voters approve reforms in the upcoming election, a new industry could generate tens of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue. More importantly, it will begin to reverse the lasting damage of prohibition, including horrendous racial injustices.
On the ballot are Constitutional Initiative 118 and Statutory Initiative 190. Initiative 118 sets the legal age for marijuana consumption at 21 years, while Initiative 190 legalizes, taxes and regulates cannabis. Among other provisions, I-190 licenses cannabis dispensaries and testing laboratories. It would collect a 20 percent state tax on sales, which go partly to the state’s general fund and partly to specific services like environmental conservation and addiction treatment.
An October 28 poll found that I-190 looks likely to pass, with 54 percent in favor and 38 percent opposed.
Though a mostly rural state of just over a million people, of whom only about 1 percent are Black, Montana holds a notorious record. It arrests more Black residents for marijuana per capita than any other US state. That was the finding of an April 2020 ACLU report analyzing marijuana arrests in all 50 states.
In Montana, Black people were found to be nearly 10 times likelier than white people to be arrested for marijuana—a disparity that has nearly tripled in just the last 10 years.
“Black students recognize that they have a much higher likelihood of getting caught and receiving a higher punishment.”
“For many Black students, their experience with substance abuse can be different from their white peers,” Jessica Brito of the Black Student Union at Montana State University told Filter. “While their white counterparts may be comfortable smoking in their dorm room, their car, or sneaking around outside, as oftentimes college students do, Black students recognize that they have a much higher likelihood of getting caught and receiving a higher punishment.”
“Even when Black students are not engaging in these activities themselves, being in proximity to those who are can still lead to lots of trouble.”
Though the ACLU didn’t analyze arrests of Native Americans, this demographic is also targeted by Montana’s marijuana laws. According to a report from the criminology department of Shenandoah University, Native American residents are disproportionately arrested for marijuana compared to whites, and this trend also worsened between 2014 and 2018.
Although Native Americans make up just over 8 percent of the population, 14 percent of marijuana arrests are of Native Americans. Native Americans are also overrepresented in the state’s prison system. A 2016 spending report found that one in five total arrests are of Native Americans—largely repeat arrests for technical violations related to terms of parole or probation.
Marijuana arrests made up 45 percent of overall drug arrests in Montana. The National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML) states that in 2016, Montana made nearly 1,500 arrests for marijuana—94 percent for possession alone.
Kyle Yoder, of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at the University of Montana, has seen firsthand the damage marijuana prohibition inflicts on young people. “A friend of mine got charged with possession at age 16…
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