Blacks Are Arrested for Weed Almost Four Times as Often as Whites in Broward

If you enjoy cannabis from time to time and appreciate your freedom, we advise you to treat your time in Florida with care.

If you enjoy cannabis from time to time, appreciate your freedom and happen to be black, treat Miami-Dade County as if it's herpes because, odds are, it will leave you marked for life. Broward and Palm Beach aren't so great for you, either.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday released a report identifying the Sunshine State as one of the country's leading states in pot arrests. According the report, Florida recorded the third most marijuana possession arrests in the country with 57,951 in 2010. When statistics were broken down to counties, Miami-Dade ranked ninth in the entire country. Broward ranked 16th.

For African-Americans, the numbers were even more disheartening.

Blacks were found to account for more than 46% of the state's marijuana arrests, with blacks in Miami-Dade being apprehended at almost six times a greater rate. In Broward County, there were 3.7 times the number of weed-related arrests for blacks as for whites. In Palm Beach County, 4.8 times as many.

Those numbers, obviously, are due to the fact that blacks burn more wood than whites, riiiiiiight? Except that a study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that whites and blacks, nationwide, smoke weed at comparable rates. There's no truth to the rumor that study was funded by Keith Richards and Snoop.

In all seriousness, Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement: "Marijuana prohibition is taking a toll on the entire country, but Florida is among the states paying the biggest price. Law enforcement resources would be better spent addressing serious crimes instead of arresting adults for using a substance objectively less harmful than alcohol."

You can see the full report with all the statistical breakdowns here.

Although the numbers prove this country is still dealing with a strong racial profiling problem, we finally understand why Dave Chappelle stopped smoking weed with black people.