Race, cannabis and the Canadian war on drugs: An examination of cannabis arrest data by race in five cities

Owusu‐Bempah, Akwasi; Luscombe, Alex

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102937

Cited by 55 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Using data from 4,600,000 people, of whom 546,879 were Māori, we demonstrate that Māori are markedly more likely to be convicted for cannabis possession than Pākehā. This finding is consistent with work on Indigenous people in Canada [ 2 , 19 , 23 ] and Australia [ 14 ], demonstrating that cannabis laws have a disproportionate impact on Indigenous peoples in these settler societies. Further, consistent with our hypothesis, the 2019 amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act had no impact on this racial bias [ 16 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…To date, Owusu-Bempah and Luscombe’s [ 19 ] work on arrest rates in Canada is one of the only academic studies that utilises population level data to demonstrate that cannabis laws have a disproportionate impact on Indigenous peoples. Surprisingly, the majority of work on cannabis arrest rates and Indigenous peoples has come from freedom-of-information requests submitted by news organisations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions

et al. 2022

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Background Previous work has demonstrated that cannabis laws have had a disproportionate impact on Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2019, the New Zealand Government amended cannabis laws, providing police with the power to determine whether a therapeutic or health-centred approach would be more beneficial than a conviction. In the current study, we use population level data to assess whether this law change has ameliorated the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori. Methods Data were drawn from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a large government database hosted by Aotearoa New Zealand’s national statistics office. In the IDI, we selected individuals who (1) were between 18 and 65, (2) were Māori or Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) and, (3) had any cannabis charges that proceeded to the courts. Results Māori ethnicity was a significant predictor of the odds of receiving a cannabis conviction for Māori males (Odds: 1.56), with a marginally significant effect for Māori females (Odds: 1.57). Further, for Māori, there was no reduction in the number of cannabis charges before vs. after the amendment to cannabis laws. Conclusion The current study demonstrates that the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori remain. Given this, the New Zealand Government must follow other countries around the world and move forward on cannabis law reform.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Using data from 4,600,000 people, of whom 546,879 were Māori, we demonstrate that Māori are markedly more likely to be convicted for cannabis possession than Pākehā. This finding is consistent with work on Indigenous people in Canada (Browne, 2018;Owusu-Bempah & Luscombe, 2021;Rankin, et al, 2017) and Australia (McGowan & Knaus, 2020), demonstrating that cannabis laws have a disproportionate impact on Indigenous peoples in these settler societies. Further, consistent with our hypothesis, the 2019 amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act had no impact on this racial bias ("Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill," 2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Indigenous People in Aotearoa New Zealand are Overrepresented in Cannabis Convictions

Scarf¹,

Rapana²,

Winter³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Previous work has demonstrated that cannabis laws have had a disproportionate impact on Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In an attempt to address this bias, the New Zealand Government amended cannabis laws in 2019, providing police with the power to determine whether a health-centred approach would be more beneficial than a conviction. In the current study, we use population level data to assess whether this law change has ameliorated the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori.Methods: Data were drawn from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a large government database hosted by Aotearoa New Zealand’s national statistics office. After constructing the population in the IDI, and filtering down to those who 1) were between 18 and 65, 2) were Māori or Pākehā and, 3) had any cannabis charges that proceeded to the courts, we had a sample of over 2,000 individuals.Results: Māori ethnicity was a significant predictor of the likelihood of receiving a cannabis conviction for Māori males, with a marginal effect for Māori females. Further, there was no reduction in the number of cannabis charges before vs. after the amendment to cannabis laws.Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that the 2019 amendment has not ameliorated the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori. Given this, the New Zealand Government must follow other countries around the world and move forward on cannabis law reform.

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“…Overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous people is not a mistake or a myth; it is the logical outcome of colonization and racism. 5,6 The pandemic exploits every weakness at the intersection of injustice and infectious disease. It spreads quickly and disproportionately harms those already traumatized by racism, colonization, poverty, and mental illness.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Justice required: vaccination in Canadian prisons

Cervin¹

2021

Can Fam Physician

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Race, cannabis and the Canadian war on drugs: An examination of cannabis arrest data by race in five cities

Cited by 55 publications

References 35 publications

Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions

Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions

Indigenous People in Aotearoa New Zealand are Overrepresented in Cannabis Convictions

Justice required: vaccination in Canadian prisons

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