• 46,000+ (46,400) arrests in 2009 for marijuana possession in public
• annual arrest total is the second highest in the city’s history
• up over 4,600 percent from 1990 when < 1,000 pot arrests
• Of 46,400 arrests in 2009:
  • 54% African American (25K+ arrests)
  • 33% Hispanic (15K+)
  • 10% Caucasian (<5K)

African-Americans and Hispanics together comprise approximately half of the city’s population.

• 90 percent male, and
• most offenders were under 26-years-old.
• In all of the arrests, marijuana possession was the most serious reported charge or the only one.
• Police have made some 400,000 misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests over the past decade.

The NYCLU study estimated that marijuana arrests in New York City cost taxpayers between $50 million and $90 million annually.

Source: NORML