NYC is known for it’s harsh marijuana laws. Possession with the intent to sell any amount is an automatic felony. The same law applies, surprisingly, to the historic bastion of weed (or at least in the public’s imagination) – California. Yet a further investigation shows that marijuana laws are severely punitive to a very (or as Californians would say, hella) specific population. Black and Latino people.

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Summer in Bushwick.

Two husky men stand in the doorway. They look like they trying real hard to be nondescript. My black senses tingle something harsh. Cops.