It’s been five decades since the US declared a "War on Drugs", and our country's policy of cannabis prohibition continues to destroy millions of lives, devastate countless communities, and animate injustice in American society.

The economic cost of this ineffective crusade is staggering.

Five decades and trillions of dollars in drug enforcement later, and there's been no decrease in American cannabis consumption. 

The human toll is untenable. 

As our new study, Criminal Injustice: Cannabis & The Rise of the Carceral State, illustrates, marijuana prohibition plays a critical role in fueling the over-policing of American neighborhoods, the mass incarceration of communities of color, and widespread civic and economic disenfranchisement. 

The discriminatory (and constitutionally-questionable) policing of cannabis offenses continues to drive millions of police encounters every single year. Law enforcement agencies have made over 6 million arrests—and nearly 15 million stops and citations—for marijuana in the past ten years alone. Every year, police make more arrests for cannabis possession (over 600,000 in 2018) than for all ‘violent’ crimes combined. 

Unsurprisingly, African-Americans are almost four times more likely to be arrested on cannabis charges than their white peers, despite white Americans being just as likely to consume. The tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and countless other Americans are visceral reminders of the human costs of this discriminatory and counterproductive policy. 

As Americans, we believe in the importance of liberty, opportunity, and equal justice under the law. Our current approach to cannabis doesn’t just fail to live up to these values: it actively erodes the rights and imperils the health, safety, and security of all American communities. And the vast majority of the country agrees. A recent Pew survey found that nearly 90% of Americans disagree with Congress’s current approach to cannabis. 

Despite this overwhelming, bipartisan support for an end to prohibition, politicians on both sides of the aisle continue to support the criminalization of cannabis.  Both medical and adult-use marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law. This is unacceptable. 

An end to marijuana prohibition—and the dawn of a common-sense, public health-focused approach to cannabis—will help us combat injustice, bolster our freedoms, and achieve our full potential as a country.It’s time to come together and demand Congress deschedule cannabis, dismantle the drug war, and develop a more just and effective approach to drug policy.