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Report: Racial Disparities Persist with Legal Pot

marijuana-jointDENVER (AP) — Legalizing marijuana reduces drug arrests but doesn’t solve one of the central goals of drug-policy reformers — ending racial disparities in marijuana enforcement.

That’s according to a new review of Colorado’s criminal justice system before and after pot was made legal.

A report released Wednesday by the pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance examined drug-related arrests in all 64 Colorado counties for two years before and two years after legalization in 2012.

Not surprisingly, the data showed that marijuana-related arrests all but vanished after voters made the drug legal in small amounts for adults over 21.

But the report noted continuing racial disparities in arrest data from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Even after legalization, black people were more likely than white people to be charged with marijuana-related crimes.

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