The popular ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s used another year’s April 20th to highlight the injustices of the criminal justice system in regards to marijuana. They used the holiday to join the ACLU in talking about justice and to formally announce that they are endorsing congressional legislation to deschedule cannabis.
They used slogans like “Legalization without justice is half baked” and presented statistics that demonstrated the racial gap in America’s marijuana incarcerations. For example, black people are 256% more likely than white people to be arrested for cannabis possession, even though they use at similar rates. They also shed light on the fact that 81% of cannabis executives are white.
Additionally, though marijuana arrests have dropped since 2010, they actually rose between 2015 and 2018. Though 33 states have legalized cannabis, with 11 of those states legalizing recreational use, hundreds of thousands of people are still arrested each year for the substance. America just can’t make up its mind.
There’s no doubt that our criminal justice system has a long way to go to achieve actual justice. Hopefully large, well-loved brands like Ben & Jerry’s championing for reform will make actual strides toward that justice. But do we really want to live in a society that requires an ice cream company taking a stance in order to shed light on a legitimate issue that minorities face? We can only thank the execs for broadcasting the harsh reality that white people are making money off marijuana, while black people are facing punishment for it.
If you have a small marijuana charge or arrest on your record that’s getting in the way, contact Easy Expunctions. We can review your situation and determine if our record-clearing software can scrub the charge from your record.