New Online Tool Fights Back In The ‘War on Marijuana’

RINF Alternative News

With today’s release of The Uncovery, the American Civil Liberties unlon has put its devastating findings on racial injustice and marijuana possession arrests into the hands of web users. In partnership with Interbrand, the ACLU has developed a simple, elegant online advocacy tool, a one-stop shop where users sellect their own facts, convert them into customized graphic messages, share them on social media, and send them to legislators – all in sixty seconds or less.

“The push for marijuana reform in this country, state by state, has never been stronger. The Uncovery provides a fast and thorough way for anyone in any state to find local facts about racial injustice in marijuana possession arrests and bring them into the debate,” said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project and lead author of The War on Marijuana in Black and White. “This is critical to effecting real and lasting change in marijuana laws.”

The Uncovery, built from the explosive data from the War on Marijuana report, allows users to see the racial breakdown of arrests for marijuana possession in their own states. In Pennsylvania, for instance, a Black person is 5.19 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person. Nationwide, that figure is 3.73.

More than half of all drug arrests in 2010 were for marijuana. Edwards continued, “With The Uncovery, statistics about marijuana possession arrests become powerful statements. An arrest can bring life-changing consequences for the individual, like loss of employment, loss of student financial aid, and worse. No one should have to bear those burdens for possession of a drug we know to be less harmful than alcohol.”

In addition to racial disparities in arrests, The Uncovery offers users dollar figures for government spending on marijuana. For example, the U.S. spent an estimated total of $3.61 billion in 2010 on the enforcement of marijuana laws. The Uncovery breaks this figure down by state, giving users another crucial argument for marijuana reform.

Interbrand, a global branding consultancy, partnered with the ACLU to provide an innovative, engaging platform for the data from The War on Marijuana in Black and White.