August 23, 2012 05:20 PM UTC

NAACP Endorses Amendment 64

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• by: ColoRabble

(A significant endorsement IMO.   – promoted by ClubTwitty)

(Disclosure: I am a proponent of Amendment 64)

According to a story this morning in the Denver newspaper, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), will officially endorse the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol in Colorado, Amendment 64:

At a morning press event, the head of the Colorado, Wyoming and Montana conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is expected to announce the conference’s support for the initiative, Amendment 64. The conference’s president, Rosemary Harris Lytle, said Wednesday the endorsement comes not out of an interest in marijuana use but instead from a concern over the lopsided numbers of African-Americans arrested for marijuana offenses.

Statement from Harris Lytle:

The NAACP Colorado Montana Wyoming State Conference believes in fairness and equity. We are committed to changing criminal justice policies that result in the disproportionate arrest and prosecution of African-Americans and other people of color. Marijuana prohibition policy does more harm to our communities than good. That is why we have endorsed Amendment 64 which presents a more effective and socially responsible approach to how Colorado addresses the adult use of marijuana.

The numbers in Denver are particularly staggering. According to a report prepared by the Denver Police Dept. for the the city’s Marijuana Policy Review Panel, African-Americans accounted for more than 31.5% percent of arrests for private adult marijuana possession, despite making up less than 11% of the city’s population.