Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Black people nationwide are four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than whites even though they use pot at similar rates, The New York Times reports, citing new federal data. In some states, African Americans are singled out for cannabis arrests at even higher rates; in Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota, blacks are eight times more likely to be arrested than whites. Some experts blame federal funding formulas for spurring racial profiling in marijuana cases, because they provide financial incentives for police agencies to boost their drug arrests by focusing enforcement efforts on low-income neighborhoods.
