The Colorado Chapter of the NAACP has endorsed Amendment 64, which will be on the state ballot this November and would legalize and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.

In a press statement on the issue, the NAACP reported that even though African-Americans made up just about 4 percent of the state’s population in 2010, they accounted for 9 percent of marijuana possession arrests and 22 percent of arrests for marijuana distribution. And those numbers jump even further in the Denver area, according to a report from the city’s police department. African-Americans made up more than 31.5 percent of all arrests for adult marijuana possession, even though they represent less than 11 percent of Denver’s overall population.

“Marijuana prohibition policy does more harm to our communities than good,” said Rosemary Harris Lytle, the president of the NAACP-Colorado-Montana-Wyoming State Conference. ”That is why we have endorsed Amendment 64, which presents a more effective and socially responsible approach to how Colorado addresses the adult use of marijuana.”

Marijuana laws are used nationwide to suppress the black community even though black marijuana use is roughly equal to white use. Prejudices still run deep for some, and useless marijuana laws are  used by people with an axe to grind.

In any case, no one should be subjected to legal consequences for something that does not infringe on the rights of anyone else. Colorado can come one step closer to that ideal this fall.

- Joe Klare

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