The failed promise of legal pot
New marijuana laws were to boost tax revenues and free up cops to go after “real” criminals. But underground sales—and arrests—are still thriving
The Atlantic (US)
Monday, May 9, 2016
Monday, May 9, 2016
The risk is that, by itself, legalizing marijuana possession does not change the black market and that, even as legalization spreads, young black men will continue to be arrested at disproportionate rates for selling the drug. In turn, this leaves intact a version of the same specter that helped spur legalization in the first place: An arrest record’s scarlet letter will continue to blight the collective futures of urban communities of color, the natural effect of an economic incentive the state did not remove. What is keeping people in Colorado’s black market is price.
