Racial Disparities in Cannabis Possession

In terms of cannabis possession, what was revealed is that Black Torontonians represent 37.6% of all charges. Yet, Black Torontonians only represent 8.8% of the population. What I’ve continually asked you to think about when reading these statistics is whether this disparity is indicative of discrimination. Realistically, this disparity could be interpreted in a variety of ways that would render discrimination irrelevant. Arguments in this line of interpretation could be that Black Torontonians simply consume cannabis at greater levels than white Torontonians or other racialized groups. But we don’t have data in the Canadian or Torontonian context to support this assumption. We do, however, have data from 2014 in the American context that indicates marijuana usage rates for Black and white people are nearly the same, with Black people representing 16% of the population who reported marijuana use, and white people representing just under 14%. It’s likely that in 2022 these rates are higher across all racial groups, partially because global sentiments towards marijuana have changed, not only making people more comfortable to try it, but more comfortable with admitting they use it.

The issue with this interpretation also embodies racial biases from the 1930s when Harry Anslinger suggested that marijuana was a violence-inducing drug primarily used by Black and Hispanic people. Much of this sentiment snowballed into the criminalization of cannabis in 1970 when President Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act. And it was criminalized not only because of a lack of understanding, but because of what it signified. Cannabis being associated with Black people meant that because Black people were demonized and vilified, so was cannabis. And with the criminalization of the drug, targeting Black people became legal.

If we think critically about the statistic of marijuana consumption, I believe it paints a different story. Although we don’t have Toronto specific data on consumption rates of cannabis, it’s my opinion that this disproportionate number seems to reveal a targeted approach towards the Black community. Here, I could argue that even if 100% of Toronto’s Black population consumed cannabis, that would only represent about 400,000 people. We know it isn’t the case that 400,000 Black people are using cannabis. But if we maintain this number and equalize the number of white consumers to this, knowing that the white population represents nearly 2,000,000 people, this would mean 20% of the white population consumes cannabis. If we assumed this to be the case, one could argue that the outcomes in charges should be relatively equal, simply because equal amounts of people are consuming cannabis. But some external factors may change the amount of interactions police have with cannabis users. 

It could be the case that Black Canadians are more likely to consume cannabis outside in the open, increasing their likelihood to be charged, meaning white people and other racialized groups consume cannabis in their homes. It could be the case that Black people are more likely to have large quantities of cannabis, conveying an intent to distribute. Maybe the same people are being charged multiple times. But all of this hinges on the idea that 400,000 Black people are consuming cannabis, something we know can’t be true.  As we reduce the percentage of population that consumes cannabis, this means less interactions with Black people, and in all likelihood, significantly more interactions with white people. So, if we hold the rates for the US standard for Toronto, this would be 16% of the Black population (64,000) and 14% of the white population (280,000) are consuming cannabis. In this regard, I find it hard to believe that police officers are conveniently crossing paths with nearly 2/5 Black cannabis users despite representing approximately 8% of the population. It leads me to ask, where are they crossing paths with them? How are they crossing paths with them? Because in order for Black people to be charged at nearly 3.5 times their population size, TPS must cross paths with them more frequently. Writ large, the easiest approach to doing this is by targeting and over-policing Black communities.