'Cannabis criminalization disproportionately impacts communities of color,' noted the congresswoman.
Though marijuana has been legalized — at least for medical use — in more than half the country, it remains outlawed by the federal government, which still considers cannabis on a par with heroin. First-term Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said Saturday morning that she believes it is time for the U.S. to not only legalize pot on a countrywide basis, but to retroactively clear the criminal records of those previously jailed on marijuana charges.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Omar's statement about marijuana arrests disproportionately affecting people of color was accurate. ACLU research found that, between 2001 and 2010, black people were four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana-related charges than whites, despite the fact that cannabis was used by the same percentage of people in either racial demographic.
For several years, Congress has effectively barred the DEA from intervening in states that had legalized medical marijuana, including stipulations in government funding bills that temporarily prohibited the Justice Department from using any congressionally appropriated funds to prevent these states from"implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.
“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime,” read the letter. “The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.”
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