Racial Disparities in the Wake of Cannabis Legalization: Documenting Persistence and Change

• Published date: 01 January 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221087355
• Author: Dale W. Willits,Brittany Solensten,Mikala Meize,Mary K. Stohr,David A. Makin,Craig Hemmens,Duane L. Stanton,Nicholas P. Lovrich
• Date: 01 January 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

Racial Disparities in the Wake

of Cannabis Legalization:

Documenting Persistence

and Change

Dale W. Willits , Brittany Solensten,

Mikala Meize , Mary K. Stohr,

David A. Makin, Craig Hemmens,

Duane L. Stanton, and Nicholas P. Lovrich

Abstract

One of the arguments in support of the legalization of cannabis is that it would help

alleviate racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Using UCR data from

Colorado and Washington, we explore trends in cannabis arrests disaggregated by

rates using interrupted time-series analysis, linear mixed models, and data visualiza-

tions. The results demonstrate a general decline in cannabis arrests for nearly all racial

groups, yet these declines were not consistent across racial groups or even across

states. Moreover, substantial racial disparities persist following legalization, especially

in Colorado. Overall, evidence suggests that while legalization has likely had a net pos-

itive effect on overrepresented populations by decreasing criminal justice contact, it is

not a panacea and may only be minimally important for addressing disparities.

Keywords

cannabis, marijuana, drugs, race

Introduction

The War on Drugs was largely a war on the most vulnerable in society: people of color,

the poor, and women. Evidence indicates that these populations disproportionately

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Washington State University

Corresponding Author:

Dale W. Willits, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Washington State University, Wilson-

Short 112A, Pullman, WA 99164.

Email: dale.willits@wsu.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2025, Vol. 15(1) 4-21

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221087355

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

suffered because of the zero-tolerance drug movement (Bobo & Thompson, 2006;

Moore & Elkavich, 2008; Provine, 2011; Reagan, 1990-1991; Reynolds, 2008).

Public sentiment toward the criminalization of drugs has shifted in recent years. The

most notable example of this is the trend toward cannabis decriminalization and legal-

ization. As of November 2021, recreational use of cannabis is legal in 18 states and the

District of Columbia, with a total of 36 states allowing for its medical use. Scholars

have noted that the United States reached a turning point as we shift from the War

on Drugs toward an emerging “harm reduction”strategy with respect to drug use

(Werb, 2018).

State-level law and policy are clearly moving toward the legalization of cannabis in

the United States. Proponents have levied a host of arguments in support of legaliza-

tion, including claims that legal cannabis production, and wholesale distribution and

retail sales, will reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system. The rationale

for this claim is readily apparent: if people of color disproportionately suffered the

effects of cannabis prohibition, then the legalization of the most used illicit drug in

the US (NIDA, 2020) will reduce racial disparities. Yet the evidence for such a reduc-

tion has been uneven at best, based on the limited research which has been conducted

to date. Firth et al. (2019), for example, examined marijuana arrests using National

Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data and found that while overall trends

in arrest decreased for the Black population in Washington state, relative disparities

across White and minority subpopulations have persisted.

To date, the full scope of the effects of legalization on social equity remain uncer-

tain. While Firth et al. (2019) provide important evidence in this regard –indicating

that arrests of minority group members have decreased though inequities in arrests

prevail despite legalization - more research is sorely needed. The current study

expands on the work by Firth and colleagues (2019; 2020) by exploring the effects

of legalization in both Colorado and Washington, the f‌irst two states to legalize recre-

ational marijuana, using Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System data. The use of

UCR data is particularly important, given that many agencies in Washington were

not NIBRS compliant at the point of legalization. Relatedly, the current study

extends the period of study from Firth et al.’s original 2012-2015 to 2009-2016.

This expansion in years allows for a more complete examination of the effects of legal-

ization, including the ability to conduct more detailed pre-post analyses.

Literature Review

Though the need for a national response to increasing drug use was f‌irst vocalized by

President Nixon in 1968, it was not until 1981 when President Reagan formally insti-

tuted the War on Drugs by implementing policies designed to combat the spread of

illegal drugs. These efforts included three primary pieces of legislation: the

Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986

and of 1988. These statutes and the policies embedded therein set the stage for a

period of zero tolerance drug policy in the US, a period in which a great deal of

resources were allocated to combat the drug problem. Scholars have estimated the

Willits et al. 5